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95-Degree Days: How Extreme Heat Could Spread Across the World
- liberte82 9y agoI saw it was 115 in Phoenix yesterday, like what? As a Canadian that does not even compute.
- DamnYuppie 9y ago115 in Phoenix at this time of year is not abnormal. Having grown up in southern Arizona 105 or 110 was not uncommon and really didn't deter us from going out, of course going out met going to a pool.
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- liberte82 9y agoYeah I didn't really have a larger point about this being due to climate change or anything. I realize that no one specific data point is ever evidence of climate change or lack thereof (unlike that senator who brought a snowball into Congress). I could handle 115 in a pool... probably couldn't handle the walk to/from the vehicle.
- jay-anderson 9y agoAs a phoenician the canadian deep cold temperatures I see during the winter do the same for me.
- astrodust 9y agoDress for the weather, you'll be fine. People have been doing it for tens of thousands of years. You can't dress for 120°F. You can only avoid it.
- pizzetta 9y agoPeople in the Sahara (and other deserts) dressed for the weather. It's not comfortable by modern standards, but people were able to bear it with the right clothing to keep the outside heat out.
- hoppa_liza 9y agoHumidity is a killer in high temperature, you do not have to deal with that in the desert.
- umanwizard 9y agoWell, Phoenix is an arid desert.
- copperx 9y agoWhich makes me wonder, how would 120 feel in Florida?
- aptwebapps 9y agoNot as hot as an actual sauna, I'm sure it'd be fine. ;)
- ikeyany 9y agoLike Mercury on a foggy day.
- astrodust 9y agoAs true as that is, even those that live in a desert would limit their activity on especially hot days. At some point even camels are going to refuse to cooperate.
- astrodust 9y agoSeeing flights cancelled due to extreme winter conditions is something people are used to seeing, but now it's due to extreme heat. https://www.wired.com/story/phoenix-flights-canceled-heat/ https://www.wired.com/story/phoenix-flights-canceled-heat/ https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/20/15837804/phoenix-extreme-heat-american-airlines-flight-cancel-science https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/20/15837804/phoenix-extreme-... Anything above 118°F is beyond the current design limits of some planes, so those planes are grounded. That's going to become a frequent event at the rate things are going. It's also scary hot.
- Taniwha 9y agoyup, when it gets hot the air expands, gets less dense, too thin to support a fully loaded plane
- lutorm 9y agoYeah, but I don't understand why you'd cancel the flight instead of just reduce takeoff weight. Perhaps it just becomes uneconomic to run the flight if they can only load half the passengers?
- pxeboot 9y agoThese planes were tested/certified for a certain temperature range. If higher temps become more common, they could potentially be re-certified with more stringent weight restrictions.
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoBecause if you exceed the designed operating range enough something bad will happen, expected or not. Yeah, it's probably fine but nobody wants to blow up a space shuttle.
- Merad 9y agoPart of the preflight that pilots have to do is calculate how much runway is needed for takeoff given the planes loading and current conditions. If the plane doesn't include data for the current temp, they can't run their calculations and fly. It's not that the plane itself can't fly in the heat, but they often aren't tested at very high temps due to lack of need.
- twobyfour 9y agoI've experienced a week or two of temperatures like that. They aren't too miserable as long as humidity is low and you've got a bit of a breeze (and a source of hydration). Fortunately, Arizona is pretty arid. Frankly, 80 degrees in Florida can easily be significantly more unpleasant than 115 in the southwest.
- scruple 9y agoI spent last summer in California's inland empire region. You've gotta remember something. In between SoCal and Phoenix, AZ lays Death Valley, one of the literal hottest places on the planet. It really shouldn't be that surprising, then, that the regional area can become super-heated, if that's even a term. When it was topping the high 110s where I was last summer, it really wasn't that bad. I spent 4 years living in the middle of Georgia, and 95 degrees with 95% humidity was a much more unpleasant feeling than a dry 118 was, at least for me.
- glitcher 9y agoAnd when we hit 120 last week it was the last straw for my aging car battery! I had to get a jump and go get a new battery in the middle of the afternoon heat :( Now when some freak traffic accident takes out a power line to your neighborhood and you have no power for hours during that heat, then you're in for some real pain! But other than that we're pretty used to it, just stay inside during daylight hours.
- elorant 9y agoIn Greece we're expecting a heatwave in the following days that will reach up to 109 F. So 95 looks like Christmas.
- ChuckMcM 9y agoI spent my younger days living in Las Vegas and adapted fairly quickly to the heat after moving there. However there was always three qualitative steps when it came to heat, when temperatures cross 100F (38C), when they cross 110F (43C), and when they cross 120F (49C). Generally the temperatures stayed below 110 but it was pretty easy to know that the temperature was "over 100" or "under 100". Once the temperature got to 110 it started to feel oppressive. Out by Lake Mead where we would sail and play on the 'beaches'[1] when it occasionally crossed 120 it actually started feeling threatening. Even in the water I always felt "You must get out of this heat" when it was over 120. Sort of an existential threat to health and safety. The interesting bit is the water carrying capacity of air when it is warmer. As global temperatures rise, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere goes up. If that turns into clouds in the stratosphere it continues to get hotter, if it turns into clouds in the troposphere it gets colder. [1] We called them beaches but really its just the desert running into the water that is backed up behind Hoover dam.
- mvindahl 9y agoReminds me of an anecdote that I read about the admirable society of Dubai. Apparently, the law requires that once the officially measured temperature exceed 50C/122F, the slaves (or whatever the official term is) are given the day off from the construction sites. Anyway, the officially measured temperature tends to never exceed 49C, even when anyone could measure with their own thermometer that it's really hotter.
- mitchty 9y agoIt depends on the humidity. We had a 113F day with over 60% humidity once. No way in hell do I think anyone could get used to that. That was at almost 47 Lat vs 40 Lat for the most north of greece. But I went to around death valley with minimal humidity and it was barely worth registering in comparison.
- SamUK96 9y agoIt is sometimes hard to tell with these types of very slowly developing changes if there is actually a worsening or not situation happening. It's like watching grass grow in real time and trying to see if it's length is _really_ changing. Is it really getting worse or is it an enormous "good old days" fallacy? Mixture of the two? Scientific evidence of course points to a very grim future of more dry, hot, barren, inhospitable land area... In the UK, my parents had snow every year where they lived. Now snow in the same area is getting extremely rare, happening only twice in large-ish amounts over the past 10 to 15 years (source: i lived there too for over 20 years). Over my (rather) short time on Earth, i swear that we never used to get so many heatwaves as a child. It feels like we all collectively killing our children (or if not them, then their children), but nobody can do anything about it. The future of Earth's climate is one of those things that really gets people down it seems from a very anecdotal view of the people around me. The helplessness of it all.
- BlackjackCF 9y agoI think losing hope that we can't do anything against it is really dangerous. I know we haven't been on the verge in this way, but I do really believe that we can overcome this with human innovation. Even if it means having to pummel some rich, greedy folks first.
- zzalpha 9y agoOh make no mistake, speaking for myself, I think we absolutely can do something about global warming. I just don't believe we will. In fact I would bet a significant dollar amount that by 2035 or so we will have done nothing and we might be debating risk mitigation strategies since, by then, the effects may finally be too profound to ignore (e.g. chunks of Miami Beach regularly under water).
- spodek 9y ago> In the United States, some urban planners are already experimenting with techniques like adding green spaces or increasing the reflectivity of rooftops to cool down city centers during heat waves. As usual, anything but suggesting people change their behavior to reduce global warming. We want laws to force us to do things, but won't do them otherwise. Where is the call for us to change our behavior?
- durge 9y agoBecause nobody wants to live like Appalachians when they can live like San Franciscans. One is clearly more comfortable.
- linkregister 9y agoDon't city dwellers in general consume less greenhouse gases due to improved density and efficiency?
- durge 9y agoThe improved density and efficienty allows population that necessitates the use of factory farming, petrochemical based fertilizers, massive infrastructure, traffic congestion etc. Per individual the carbon footprint is smaller (until you get to the really rural poor), but overall the effect of this process is more consumption on net. It's just the way it is. If we really wanted to go green, we'd all be on mopeds and have one shirt.
- 0xbear 9y agoAnd we'd also have no kids, because that's an exponential factor when it comes to pollution.
- dragonwriter 9y agoKids are only an exponential factor if you have a constant number per adult each generation.
- pmurT 9y agoIf humans really are causing climate change, nothing appreciable will be done until there is no choice - that's by and large how people operate unfortunately.
- liberte82 9y agoIf by people you mean the 30-40% of any given population that will fight tooth and nail against anyone telling them what to do, I agree. Not everyone is opposed to climate change action. Those that are are loud and fight hard for power. We need to remember that. At one point it felt hopeless to take on the tobacco industry.
- rayiner 9y agoIt's 30-40% of the population that opposes the token non-solutions that have been proposed by liberal governments. A lot more than that would oppose the drastic economic measures that would be necessary to really avert climate change.
- flukus 9y ago> It's 30-40% of the population that opposes the token non-solutions that have been proposed by liberal governments. The primary solution (emissions trading) is a conservative solution, not a liberal one. Reagan and Thatcher introduced the Montreal protocol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol) to limit CFC emissions. Bush senior introduced the Acid Rain Program (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_Rain_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_Rain_Program) to limit sulfur emissions. Aside from that, if the conservatives would like to propose a new solution then I and most other people are all ears, but all we seem to get is denial that the problem exists.
- incompatible 9y ago"Conservative" is a somewhat meaningless term in this context. On one hand, it's conservative to continue with business as usual and ignore potential problems until they become unavoidable. However, it would also be conservative to keep CO2 levels in the atmosphere at their current levels, instead of running a radical climate experiment in which they are pumped up to ever higher levels.
- Mz 9y agoIn the United States, electricity use soars as temperatures rise and more households use air-conditioning more frequently. One recent study found that the United States’ electric grid would have to handle a 7.2 percent increase in peak demand this century under a moderate warming scenario. It would be wise to promote passive solar design. Relying on AC just burns more fuel and this makes global warming worse. It winds up being a vicious cycle and it isn't actually necessary. We also need to support more pedestrian and bike options. There are lots of little things that can help. These tend to not get counted and when things don't get as bad as people expected, this news tends to get swept under the rug. But if you are really concerned about this, you can make some modest lifestyle changes to help curb this trend. If you live in a first world country, your modest efforts will generally count for more than you think because we tend to consume so much more than people in less developed countries. Some years back when I was taking environmental law classes, one American consumed something like 200 times as much as someone from India. So cutting back a few percent as an American is potentially about like outright eliminating the impact of several people from a less developed country. Even very modest cut backs can be about like someone from a less developed country cutting their consumption in half.
- w8rbt 9y agoThe smart grid is being designed now to solve this. Increase efficiency, allow for renewables (wind and solar), and reduce transmission loss (averages 7% in USA), etc. Let's just hope we can properly secure it, the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has a very large attack surface and spans from homes, to distribution, transmission and ultimately all the back to power generation.
- Mz 9y agoPassive solar is better than having a smart grid, and we can also do both. Using little or no electricity is more efficient than using green electricity. I think we really need to push for passive solar design. It is the answer that allows for high quality of life and lowered use of electricity. Most other answers involve doing without. This does not.
- jhulla 9y agoFocusing global political will into action to address climate change is hard. What is depressing is that even when local benefits are present, it is challenging to enact policy. Case in point: the folks over at Citylab periodically write about the loss of urban forests. Here is an article from May'17: McMansions Are Killing L.A.'s Urban Forest. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/05/as-officials-push-for-plantings-remodeled-homes-are-killing-las-trees/525069/ https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/05/as-officials-push-for... Look at the attached map, even the liberal enclaves of Santa Monica, Venice, Manhattan Beach, BelAir, Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills show tree cover loss. Sad.
- Red_Tarsius 9y agoWe need a new 'Manhattan project' to find and enforce a solution. The best and brightest minds from all over the world in one place, focusing on this issue 24/7. The situation cannot be underestimated anymore. Realistically, we can't expect people to live peacefully in lands without food and water. This is going to kickstart the biggest migratory wave in history.
- kanzure 9y ago> We need a new 'Manhattan project' to find and enforce a solution. No, we don't. Large-scale geoengineering proposals have already been made and they are like <$1B each. Many have been calculated to reduce global average temperature by multiple degrees for hundreds of years. It's completely ridiculous that everyone is still complaining about climate change. $1B is significantly less than the total cost spent worrying about these things so far, not to mention the cost of actual damage already incurred and predicted to occur. EDIT: for starters, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_climate_engineering_topics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_climate_engineering_to... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_engineering#Proposed_strategies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_engineering#Proposed_s...
- JauntyHatAngle 9y ago>Large-scale geoengineering proposals have already been made and they are like <$1B each. Many have been calculated to reduce global average temperature by multiple degrees for hundreds of years. Um, Source please?
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- valuearb 9y ago95 degrees is really nice in Arizona and miserable in Oregon because of relative humidity.
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