I’m in New Zealand. My good friend is in Melbourne.
In the part of New Zealand I’m in, we’ve had some really got days. Like, not coping, many cases of heat stroke etc.
Whereas, heat like that is more normal for him. Is there a reason that 25°c is hotter here in NZ than Australia?
In: 15
Probably humidity. Humidity makes the intensity of the heat worse in 2 ways.
First, it’s because it makes our body‘s cooling mechanism less effective. Our body cools itself by sweating and as that sweat evaporates, it cools the surface of our skin. High humidity means there’s more moisture in the air around us. For our sweat to evaporate, there needs to be a differential between the level of moisture in the air and the level of moisture that we’re sweating out. The more moisture in the air, the lower that differential, the less our sweats evaporates.
Second, is because the specific heat capacity of water. The specific heat capacity describes how much energy it takes to warm (or cool) a substance. Since there’s more water suspended in the air when there’s higher humidity, if temperature of the day is hot and that moist air is heated up, then it takes longer for the air to cool. So it will retain more heat for longer and will feel hotter than a place that is the same temperature but not as humid.
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