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Subsaharan African desert heat cold deaths make perfect sense if you are aware of the side effects of the lack of moisture and vegetation - low thermal mass. Th

Subsaharan African desert heat cold deaths make perfect sense if you are aware of the side effects of the lack of moisture and vegetation - low thermal mass. There is a reason desert mammals have fur and desert reptiles burrow - it drops fast and low in the night. If you go from minimally dressed in the day for heat from inexperience or poverty and are ill-prepared you die a death that sounds utterly absurd to pop cultural assumptions about the desert. Combine that with jungle-savvanah-desert "exotic foreign wilderness" conflation. The jungle you really do dress scantily for given humidity, temperature, and most importantly the exact opposite thermal mass situation. There is a reason desert dwellers prefer covering garments beyond just sun reflection. Greenland I can only guess as possibly related to volcanic warmth and being used to dressing for warmth combined with familarity with hypothermia's symptoms including feeling hot. If you are used to dealing with getting so cold you feel an urge to strip naked and dive in the snow you may double down on heat because it is usually cold. But if it is actually heat this time you die an absurd seeming death. I also assume heat deaths exclude fire related deaths.

ehnto 5y ago
I think for the cold extreme it's less likely confusing too-cold with too-hot, and just the same as your African desert example. People without experience in the heat won't be able to tell when it goes from uncomfortable to dangerous due to inexperience. We're more than capable of bearing deadly heat emotionally, and so if you don't know what that feels like you'll just keep going until you get heatstroke, which will also be a new experience for an Icelander I assume. For those new to extreme heat, the sheer amount of water required to stay safe is usually underestimated.
- iamhamm 5y ago
  I live in a desert and I’m very active outdoors, even in the summer, and you’re totally right about the misjudging of being safe. First is the confusion people have about clothing choice. You can tell the tourists at Death Valley because there in shorts and short sleeves while those that live here are in pants and long sleeves. Also, water consumption as you point out- I do summer hiking/trail running in the mountains around here and it’s trivial to drink a gallon of water. The biggest distance limiter is the weight of the water you need to carry.
Sebb767 5y ago
I assume a lot of heat related deaths are mostly due to heat stroke and cardiac stress caused by it. People can easily live in high heat conditions (see deserts, for example), but if they're not used to it, it quickly becomes problematic. You can see the effects any time a heat wave hits a usually mild climate. Cold can kill, too, but it usually hits the very poor and those caught in a bad situation ; heat stroke, on the other hand, can be pretty subtle. I can imagine someone who thinks of 20°C as hot is rather vulnerable to it.
solidasparagus 5y ago
> jungle-savvanah-desert "exotic foreign wilderness" conflation What?
iamhamm 5y ago
This makes a lot of sense to me. I live in the Mojave Desert at about 3,000’ above sea level. The fall and spring transitions pose this exact risk. Today, for example, I’m looking at high of 80F but overnight we dropped to 39F and our humidity is hovering around 15%. Everyone jokes about it being a dry heat on those 120F days, but I’ll tell you what - dry cold is painfully colder than I could imagine and at much higher temperatures. Growing up in Massachusetts it was cold and humid and completely different. Here you can feel the heat pulling off you at 45F and it will feel sub-freezing. It’s weird to both need to keep water, so I don’t die of dehydration in heat, and a coat, so I don’t freeze to death, in the car at the same time. The desert doesn’t offer margin for error.

ehnto 5y ago

I think for the cold extreme it's less likely confusing too-cold with too-hot, and just the same as your African desert example. People without experience in the heat won't be able to tell when it goes from uncomfortable to dangerous due to inexperience. We're more than capable of bearing deadly heat emotionally, and so if you don't know what that feels like you'll just keep going until you get heatstroke, which will also be a new experience for an Icelander I assume. For those new to extreme heat, the sheer amount of water required to stay safe is usually underestimated.

iamhamm 5y ago
I live in a desert and I’m very active outdoors, even in the summer, and you’re totally right about the misjudging of being safe. First is the confusion people have about clothing choice. You can tell the tourists at Death Valley because there in shorts and short sleeves while those that live here are in pants and long sleeves. Also, water consumption as you point out- I do summer hiking/trail running in the mountains around here and it’s trivial to drink a gallon of water. The biggest distance limiter is the weight of the water you need to carry.

Sebb767 5y ago

I assume a lot of heat related deaths are mostly due to heat stroke and cardiac stress caused by it. People can easily live in high heat conditions (see deserts, for example), but if they're not used to it, it quickly becomes problematic. You can see the effects any time a heat wave hits a usually mild climate. Cold can kill, too, but it usually hits the very poor and those caught in a bad situation ; heat stroke, on the other hand, can be pretty subtle. I can imagine someone who thinks of 20°C as hot is rather vulnerable to it.

solidasparagus 5y ago

> jungle-savvanah-desert "exotic foreign wilderness" conflation What?

iamhamm 5y ago

This makes a lot of sense to me. I live in the Mojave Desert at about 3,000’ above sea level. The fall and spring transitions pose this exact risk. Today, for example, I’m looking at high of 80F but overnight we dropped to 39F and our humidity is hovering around 15%. Everyone jokes about it being a dry heat on those 120F days, but I’ll tell you what - dry cold is painfully colder than I could imagine and at much higher temperatures. Growing up in Massachusetts it was cold and humid and completely different. Here you can feel the heat pulling off you at 45F and it will feel sub-freezing. It’s weird to both need to keep water, so I don’t die of dehydration in heat, and a coat, so I don’t freeze to death, in the car at the same time. The desert doesn’t offer margin for error.