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I grew up poor and without AC in Minnesota where we regularly get spells of 100°F+ (37.7°C) at VERY high humidity thanks to all the lakes. It’s survivable, it’s

by donatj 3y ago

I grew up poor and without AC in Minnesota where we regularly get spells of 100°F+ (37.7°C) at VERY high humidity thanks to all the lakes. It’s survivable, it’s absolutely not pleasant though and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Fans and wet rags help some. I used to fill a 2-liter bottle with cold water and hold it against my chest. A lot of sleepless nights. When we got a local second run $2 movie theater, it was a literal godsend.

brazzy 3y ago
The point is that at some sufficiently high humidity, fans and wet rags do not help any more, at all! Combine that with sufficiently high temperatures, and it's not survivable. And will kill people with weak circulatory systems (i.e. the elderly and babies) quite a bit earlier.
- masklinn 3y ago
  It also causes long-term damage (e.g. loss of kidney function) to healthy individuals. This is an issue that’s been tracked for a decade in mesoamerican field workers.
- wholinator2 3y ago
  Yes, the fan cannot cool. But have your ever experienced the cold water tap being cooler than the ambient air temperature? They mean that they soak a rag in cold water, from the tap, and then apply that to themselves. This will 100% help cool the person down. You could run a cold bath, take a cold shower, even drink the cold water (but not too much too cold!) If you have cold water, you can survive.
  - triceratops 3y ago
    That only works if the water pipelines are underground and all the above-ground plumbing is shaded. If the water heats up on its way to the faucet it's useless.
  - brazzy 3y ago
    That's a big "if" in rural areas of third world countries, though.
jijijijij 3y ago
You do not understand the issue at hand. Whatever you experienced was way less severe, because evaporative cooling obviously was still possible. There is a point where you simply cannot cool yourself passively. That's the point where survival is at risk regardless of health. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature
- donatj 3y ago
  Having a rag of cold water on you will cool you regardless of evaporation. It is a thing that is cooler than the environment. The water from our taps at least is a pretty constant like 50°F
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    Nice living in the wealthiest country in human history, ain’t it. Do you think this is the case for the billions of people closer to the equator or in poorer countries?
    - torstenvl 3y ago
      [flagged]
      - ethanbond 3y ago
        Good point. Once you look past ideology, water is everywhere to be found. “You just dig up water! Duh!” - Person from The Land of 10,000 Lakes Brilliant. Couldn’t make it up.
        torstenvl 3y ago
        Everywhere there are people, yes, it is. People cannot survive without water, heat wave or no. EDIT: To respond to your edits: I'm not from Minnesota. And it's hard to imagine what kind of formation would lead you to believe wells only work in places like that.
nicbou 3y ago
Wet bulb temperature is the lowest temperature to which air can be cooled by the evaporation of water into the air (sweating, evaporative cooling). If that temperature exceeds the body's max temperature, the clock starts ticking. If you stay, you die. It's not just very hot.
whycombagator 3y ago
I don’t think of Minnesota as a place where 100f+ occurs with regularity or for sustained periods. A brief search confirms my assumptions, but I’m happy to be proven otherwise. There are parts of the US where 100f is reached by midday and persists past sunset for over a month, with high humidity.
- Auracle 3y ago
  Actually getting over 100f is decently rare in Minnesota. I’d guess most summers we do, but not for extended periods. We often get a few weeks where the high is in the upper 90s. However, our humidity can get extremely high - basically as bad as it gets in our country. Our record seems to be a dew point of 88, and the highest ever recorded in the US is 90 (in Louisiana). The corn sweat is the biggest contributor, but all of our lakes don’t help either.
- dreamcompiler 3y ago
  Like Dallas in 2023, for example. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2023/11/05/2023-texas-summer-was-the-second-hottest-on-record-is-this-the-new-normal/ https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2023/11/05/2023-texas-summer...
Auracle 3y ago
For what it’s worth, it turns out a most of our humidity is from corn fields, not our lakes. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/22/feeling-sweaty-minnesota-blame-corn-crops https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/22/feeling-sweaty-minn... It’d be nice if they could genetically modify corn to pump out less water, though I don’t know if that’s feasible.
dreamcompiler 3y ago
You are talking about Minnesota but your description is identical to that of Atlanta, Houston, and any number of other southeastern US cities during the first half of the 20th century. A/C became widespread in the US first in the South, because it made indoor work possible in the afternoons. During that time (first half of 20th century), Northerners still considered A/C optional because the hot season was relatively short. A/C has been considered non-optional in the American South for the last 50 years. (In fact, I often find that when I visit the South in the summer I need to bring a sweater because it's not uncommon for indoor spaces to be ridiculously cool.) Those days are over. Now Minnesota is like Atlanta in 1950, and Atlanta in the summer is now dangerous. Phoenix in summer is now deadly. A/C is a life-and-death issue in the southern half of the US (unless you're on top of a high mountain). A long absence of A/C in those places will kill you, and I don't mean figuratively.

by donatj 3y ago

brazzy 3y ago

The point is that at some sufficiently high humidity, fans and wet rags do not help any more, at all! Combine that with sufficiently high temperatures, and it's not survivable. And will kill people with weak circulatory systems (i.e. the elderly and babies) quite a bit earlier.

masklinn 3y ago
It also causes long-term damage (e.g. loss of kidney function) to healthy individuals. This is an issue that’s been tracked for a decade in mesoamerican field workers.
wholinator2 3y ago
Yes, the fan cannot cool. But have your ever experienced the cold water tap being cooler than the ambient air temperature? They mean that they soak a rag in cold water, from the tap, and then apply that to themselves. This will 100% help cool the person down. You could run a cold bath, take a cold shower, even drink the cold water (but not too much too cold!) If you have cold water, you can survive.
- triceratops 3y ago
  That only works if the water pipelines are underground and all the above-ground plumbing is shaded. If the water heats up on its way to the faucet it's useless.
- brazzy 3y ago
  That's a big "if" in rural areas of third world countries, though.

jijijijij 3y ago

You do not understand the issue at hand. Whatever you experienced was way less severe, because evaporative cooling obviously was still possible. There is a point where you simply cannot cool yourself passively. That's the point where survival is at risk regardless of health. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature

donatj 3y ago
Having a rag of cold water on you will cool you regardless of evaporation. It is a thing that is cooler than the environment. The water from our taps at least is a pretty constant like 50°F
- ethanbond 3y ago
  Nice living in the wealthiest country in human history, ain’t it. Do you think this is the case for the billions of people closer to the equator or in poorer countries?
  - torstenvl 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - ethanbond 3y ago
      Good point. Once you look past ideology, water is everywhere to be found. “You just dig up water! Duh!” - Person from The Land of 10,000 Lakes Brilliant. Couldn’t make it up.
      - torstenvl 3y ago
        Everywhere there are people, yes, it is. People cannot survive without water, heat wave or no. EDIT: To respond to your edits: I'm not from Minnesota. And it's hard to imagine what kind of formation would lead you to believe wells only work in places like that.

nicbou 3y ago

Wet bulb temperature is the lowest temperature to which air can be cooled by the evaporation of water into the air (sweating, evaporative cooling). If that temperature exceeds the body's max temperature, the clock starts ticking. If you stay, you die. It's not just very hot.

whycombagator 3y ago

I don’t think of Minnesota as a place where 100f+ occurs with regularity or for sustained periods. A brief search confirms my assumptions, but I’m happy to be proven otherwise. There are parts of the US where 100f is reached by midday and persists past sunset for over a month, with high humidity.

Auracle 3y ago
Actually getting over 100f is decently rare in Minnesota. I’d guess most summers we do, but not for extended periods. We often get a few weeks where the high is in the upper 90s. However, our humidity can get extremely high - basically as bad as it gets in our country. Our record seems to be a dew point of 88, and the highest ever recorded in the US is 90 (in Louisiana). The corn sweat is the biggest contributor, but all of our lakes don’t help either.
dreamcompiler 3y ago
Like Dallas in 2023, for example. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2023/11/05/2023-texas-summer-was-the-second-hottest-on-record-is-this-the-new-normal/ https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2023/11/05/2023-texas-summer...

Auracle 3y ago

For what it’s worth, it turns out a most of our humidity is from corn fields, not our lakes. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/22/feeling-sweaty-minnesota-blame-corn-crops https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/22/feeling-sweaty-minn... It’d be nice if they could genetically modify corn to pump out less water, though I don’t know if that’s feasible.

dreamcompiler 3y ago

You are talking about Minnesota but your description is identical to that of Atlanta, Houston, and any number of other southeastern US cities during the first half of the 20th century. A/C became widespread in the US first in the South, because it made indoor work possible in the afternoons. During that time (first half of 20th century), Northerners still considered A/C optional because the hot season was relatively short. A/C has been considered non-optional in the American South for the last 50 years. (In fact, I often find that when I visit the South in the summer I need to bring a sweater because it's not uncommon for indoor spaces to be ridiculously cool.) Those days are over. Now Minnesota is like Atlanta in 1950, and Atlanta in the summer is now dangerous. Phoenix in summer is now deadly. A/C is a life-and-death issue in the southern half of the US (unless you're on top of a high mountain). A long absence of A/C in those places will kill you, and I don't mean figuratively.