Owch! Heat makes me wonder about AZ!

[twiggy]

Originally Posted by azriverfan

I agree with much of what you said but I disagree with your assertion that the reason for the deaths was because the city was unprepared for it. I think a more logical explanation is simply that Chicago has a larger population and thus has a larger homeless and poor socioeconomic population that tend to die from these disasters. The heat was also unusually high that year. Also several older homes and complexes lack air conditioning.

You and Steve-O are ignoring or unaware of physiologic principles regarding thermal homeostasis in the body. The human body perspires to cool. In short, we sweat and that sweat is carried away through evaporation which carries heat away with it. When the environment is humid, it becomes more difficult for this cooling effect to occur because of the increased humidity in the air. This is the reason people feel more hot during a humid day. It's not just a psychological phenomenon like many people assume. In a dry environment, the body's natual cooling abilities are enhanced which is why a dry heat doesn't feel as bad. If your body has difficulty cooling, it's core temperature will increase and could result in hyperthermia. This can also lead to something more dangerous called hyperpyrexia. In an attempt to cool down, the body gets desperate and shunts so much blood to the external capillaries near the body surface that it diverts it from the brain, muscles etc. I'm stating this because so many are unaware of this principle and simply think this the idea of humidity feeling hotter is just psychological and it's not.

Finally, Phoenix has had unusually cold spells including this year when it was snowing in Cave Creek. We didn't see 739 people die of hypothermia during that stretch. Yes, I'm being somewhat facetious but you get the idea. We didn't even have a 100 people of cold related deaths as a result. You can't just assume that several deaths would occur in Phoenix should the temperatures drop.

I agree with the hyperpyrexia, which is a one part of heat stroke, not sure why you thought I thought lack of AC was a psychological issue, I didn't think they were just uncomfortable enough to die. lol Living in AZ as you must know we get educated on this early on. I would think someone like you could educate Chicago on humidity. And if your a city that knows this and now knows it can get long heat waves then I think more shelters and checks on people in need are being more prepared. And they should be for the next time. Chicago put out this info, and I was glad to hear it. As with the cold spell, If you read my thread I was talking about people in Phoenix driving on black ice. A real cold wave, not dipping into the 20's for a min. If it really snowed here and people tried to deal with icy roads I think there would be quite a few deaths from it. Maybe not 700 I was just generalizing there, but ........... and I don't think our city would be prepared for this either. We don't exactly have snow plows laying around Phoenix anywhere. This doesn't seem like a "debate issue" really. We can all be right on this one I think. Nobody wants to be competitive about heat waves or blizzards. They suck, people get killed, it's a terrible thing.

[ivanabacowboy]

From another Ohioan-I will take the 100'+ with 10% humidity over the 90' with like 90% humidity any day of the week.

Until it gets really hot (say 110'), the heat is ok-it is the direct sun that will get you even at the lower temperatures. For example, yesterday afternoon I was on my shaded balcony with the ceiling fan on. It was about 100'. I was comfortable with a glass of cold iced tea. NOW-leaving the comfort of the fan and the shade and venturing out into the parking lot in FULL SUN (also remember there is little to NO shade here in Arizona) at about 2pm, yes it was hot (not capital HOT yet lol!). Start the engine, crank the AC, have a cold drink with you, and you are good to go in a few minutes. If you do need to go immediately, good idea to keep gloves or a cloth rag or something in your car to grab the steering wheel until the AC kicks in.

The coolest thing out here are the people-sized produce misters lol! Like the things in the grocery store that rain on the cucumbers and lettuce. They put those on buildings and walkways and homes to finely mist people. It is a very fine mist so you dont feel "wet"-it actually evaporates almost immediately. But it can make the apparent temperature feel like it dropped at least 10 or more degrees when you are under them.

Point is this-Cleveland at 100' is 100% miserable, shade or not, iced tea or not, ceiling fan or not. Here it is ok so long as you arent out in the direct sun.

The record all-time high temp in Cleveland is 104' in 1988 with ungodly high humidity. I remember this disctinctly because my son was still an infant. Now that was AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. Opening the door was like literally walking into a sauna-so hot and humid it literally took your breath away. It was so hot and humid you couldnt breathe. As soon as I felt that, I closed my door and didnt leave the house lol! Out here 104' is just warm.

The day I arrived in Phoenix the in-dash outside temperature gauge in my car read 115'. Sure it was toasty-most definitely. But to get from point A to point B, and not stay in the sun any longer than necessary, it wasnt "awful".

Save any outdoor activities that involve more than going from car to store/restaurant/etc to car to home for after sundown or before noon-ish when it gets so hot. And always carry water with you in your car. If you end up breaking down and having to walk and dont have water, that may be the longest 2 miles of your life...

And in closing...remember you don't have to shovel the sunshine or scrape it off your car. ;-)

[Beena]

Rode my bike to work today. What people don't understand is that even on a day when it is 105 or 110, at 630 am it is very comfortable in the low 80s.

And it sure as heck isn't gonna rain on me on the way home :0