I’m not from this area of the country, but I have experienced some really hot summers in other parts of the US. But nothing really compares to this weather. It is unbearable in every way. I feel like I need a shower just sitting here and dehydration is inevitable.
Why is it so brutal here!?
In: Planetary Science
It’s the humidity.
Humans don’t actually have a great sense for absolute temperature. From a biological perspective, we don’t really need to. What we need to know is how well our bodies are *shedding* heat. This is important because when you’re chasing your food across the African savannah, you need to know how well you are shedding heat so you can pace yourself and run down that happy meal that is running away at a rapid pace.
Humans shed heat by sweating. More specifically, we sweat, which then evaporates. This process carries away a tremendous amount of heat when compared to simply radiating heat away like animals that don’t sweat.
The drier the air, the more moisture it can absorb. So when the air is dry, our sweat evaporates quickly and we feel very cool
When the air is already full of moisture, our sweat evaporates slowly, and by consequence we feel hotter.
This means that our bodies are less able to cool off when it is humid. Our brains signal to us that this is a problem by making us feel miserable. It’s a warning: hey, conditions really suck for physical activity, so maybe chill out a bit.
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