Posted on 07/21/2011 11:24:36 AM PDT by theruleshavechanged
Here's the headline: "Shock Forecast: NOAA Predicts Heat Index of 116 in Washington Friday." Not temperature. So the arbitrary, "You're gonna feel like it's 116," but let me ask you, how many of you were anywhere where it was 116 in the last few years, months, to know what 116 feels like?
Why not just report the temperature of what it's gonna be? It's gonna be 100 degrees, it's gonna be 103. That happens every summer in Washington. And now it's gonna be 116! It's gonna be deadly hot, unprecedented heat, 116 heat index. More manipulation. You wait. What's predictably to follow here? Global warming stories.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
If the ambient temperature is hotter than your skin temperature, it won't provide cooling with more wind.
You can get some more evaporation with the wind providing a cooling effect while you sweat, but it is different than the wind chill providing convection transfer of heat.
Drastically elevated heart and respiration rates from excessive sweating in oppressive heat is pretty real and very physical.
I’ll be in Oak Harbor next weekend for my 40 year high-school reunion. Flying up from TX.
Heat Index, is a measure of how your body's cooling method of perspiration has been slowed due to higher humidity and resulting slower evaporation on your skin.
It results in an equivalent temperature where over time you could expect to experience overheating of your body. It is a real physical reality.
I was working in Homa one summer re-rigging a heavy lift barge.
The sun beating down on the steel deck made the temp inside the barge over 130. we weren't supposed to stay below deck for more than 45min.
The temp difference between below deck and on deck in the shade was so different you actually felt cold you would have to stand in the sun until you cooled off.
Every afternoon it would rain for about 30min. The deck would cool so quick water would condense on the ceiling and it would rain inside the barge. Felt like someone poured ice water down your back.
They are saying 75 degrees. Supposed to be nice for the weekend, and then Monday more of the inclement stuff.
“Drudge was reporting 116° in D.C., which is WRONG!”
I’m so glad people are talking about this because I thought I was going crazy when I saw that Drudge map.
I get the “it’ll feel like 116 degrees in DC” thing (even if it is misleading to some) but then why was there a “1” for the state of Washington? Was it going to feel like 1 degree in Washington? I think not.
It seemed to me like the whole point was to confuse the issue and make everyone think it’s a much hotter summer than it’s ever been.
Also, while they’re going on and on about the high heat in some parts of the country, why aren’t they also talking about the unusually low temperatures in other parts?
Here in Sacramento we’ve been having one of the most pleasant summers I’ve ever experienced. Had to wear jeans and a jacket to the State Fair on Friday evening, and that’s absolutely unheard of.
I’m in the Houston area now. Nobody ever said “yeah, but it’s a dry heat” in Houston. Heat Index is real. And if you have a job where you got to where FRC’s out in the plant, it is even more real.
If it's twenty below without the wind it's twenty below, not zero.
I live right outside Houston.
We got lucky and finally got some rain, but the humidity is now way up. I almost put myself down this last weekend. Still not back to normal.
People that work inside have the luxury of just wanting to know the actual temp, the rest of us poor bastards don’t.
We actually have a need to know the heat index to keep from killing ourselves.
Excessive summer time heat is not news. We are a culture that now has to be told how to stay safe in extreme weather.
That is because we have become a culture that sits inside. Heck some even select their Wii games based upon if can they play them while sitting down.
I guess I’m comparing it to similar indexes in relation to pollen - or smog - where they don’t link it to the temp.
I understand what you’re saying - but when Rush criticizes Drudge for reporting 116 degrees in DC - I think he has a point.
If a person is sitting inside, they have nothing to worry about until the AC goes on the fritz.
I went outside today. It actually becomes hard to breathe with all that steam!
The air is thick, nasty and probably the sort of thing that would give him a heart attack ~ he should be here himself to check it out ~
Heat index calculation contains assumptions about the human body mass and height, clothing, amount of physical activity, thickness of blood, sunlight and ultraviolet radiation exposure, and the wind speed. Significant deviations from these will result in heat index values which do not accurately reflect the perceived temperature. The heat index implies percieved shade temps with stagnant air.
Empirically the baseline heat index (cited above) is derived from actual air temperature given the partial pressure of water vapor to be equal to a baseline value of 1.6 kPa. At standard atmospheric pressure (101.325 kPa), that corresponds to a dew point of 14 °C (57 °F) and a mixing ratio of 0.01, i.e., 10 g of water vapor per kilogram of dry air. Bear in mind that the density of air decreases as temps increase. So a larger volume of air is necessary to contain the same air mass. The vapor pressure of water also increases, and the corresping saturation temp likewise increases.
At high temperatures, the level of relative humidity needed to make the heat index higher than the actual temperature is significantly lower than at cooler temperatures. For example, at approximately 80 °F, the heat index will agree with the actual temperature if the relative humidity is 45%, but at about 110°F, any relative-humidity reading above 17% will make the Heat Index higher than the ambient 110 °F.
A parcel of air with a heat index of 111.7 ºF and mixing ration of 0.01 corresponds to 16% humidity; 111.7 ºF heat index is physicologically congruent to 100 ºF @ 43% humidity OR 77 ºF @ 50% humidity. All three values are congruent as having the same wattage of convective heat transfer per unit time.
Frankly, I prefer the old THI, i.e., nobody is uncomfortable at 70, 1/2 the population is unconfortable at 75, and virtually everybody is uncofortable at 79. The old THI is currently 86.3 here in Detroit.
Good husband. :)
I have been trying to get to WA my entire life. I love the weather.
There is a big difference!
Good old 'air you can wear', LOL Be careful if not cool!!
Heck, it is being reported on Yahoo that the temperate yesterday in Council Bluffs IA was 123⁰F. Enormous ‘heat dome’ has caused 22 deaths
However, the actual high was 100⁰F
Check out the comments below the article on Yahoo...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.