3 ms·
My problem with this is that I think degrees over are much worse, and humidity is also such a major factor in temperatures over 80. 85 and dry is perfect; 85 an
by michaelochurch 15y ago
My problem with this is that I think degrees over are much worse, and humidity is also such a major factor in temperatures over 80. 85 and dry is perfect; 85 and humid is miserable. Also, with typical NYC humidity, 90 is a lot worse than 50 (assuming you have access to appropriate clothing). You don't want to do anything outdoors in NYC 90 unless you know what you're doing, whereas biking or running in 50 is pretty easy. NYC 90 is equivalent to 35, and 100 is equivalent to 10.
- bromley 15y agoThese are fair concerns. The journalist just wrote a related blog post at http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/modern-thermometers-1132/ http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/modern-thermometers-1132/ that discusses the "experience" of temperature more. An improvement on the analysis might be to adjust all the temperatures for humidity and wind speed etc. before calculating the deviations below 60 F and above 80 F. My company's system doesn't do that because those other factors are much less important for energy consumption calculations (which is what degree days are traditionally used for). But I think they probably would be good factors to include for a more thorough analysis of human comfort. (I say "probably" because the complexity would increase considerably and also the figures would become less clearly defined in a sense as well. So it wouldn't be 100% positive.)