[WRnative]

Here's a short article with an excellent explanation of the importance of sweating, and staying well hydrated, when in a hot environment. It also explains the deadly combination of heat and humidity, and that sweat is an indication that the body's cooling mechanism is faltering. Considering the combination of heat and humidity in many areas of the South, including Florida, in the summer, it surprised me to learn that even when well hydrated in a DRY environment, the human body only can tolerate a temperature of 115 degrees. Wind may increase the tolerance level, while standing in direct sunlight may lower it.

One take-away from the following article is the benefit of having powerful fans available in the event that the air-conditioning breaks down.

<<Your body avoids overheating by taking advantage of a bit of physics: When water evaporates from a surface, it leaves the surface cooler. When your body gets too hot, it pumps water onto your skin and lets it evaporate, carrying away heat. This effect can actually lower the temperature of your skin to below the air temperature. This allows humans to survive in places where the air temperature is as high as human body temperature — as long as we keep drinking water to produce more sweat.

Sweating works best in dry air.

If there’s a lot of moisture in the air, then evaporation slows to a crawl, because water condenses onto your skin almost as fast as the moisture evaporates off it. When you feel sticky from sweat pooling on your skin, it means your body is struggling to evaporate water fast enough to keep you cool....

The study found that a person who is at rest, wearing minimal clothing, in a very dry room — 10 percent relative humidity — and drinking water constantly could probably avoid overheating in temperatures as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit.>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/s...perature.html?

Unfortunately, the article didn't address how body environmental temperature tolerance levels are impacted by the combination of high humidity and heat. And, of course, older individuals have less self-cooling ability than younger persons.

The Mayo Clinic warns that a heat index of above 91 degrees F. becomes problematic.

<<The heat index is a single temperature value that considers how both the outdoor temperature and humidity make you feel. When the humidity is high, your sweat can't evaporate as easily and your body has more difficulty cooling itself, making you prone to heat exhaustion and heatstroke. When the heat index is 91 F (33 C) or higher, you should take precautions to keep cool.

Untreated, heat exhaustion can lead to heatstroke, a life-threatening condition that occurs when your core body temperature reaches 104 F (40 C) or higher. Heatstroke requires immediate medical attention to prevent permanent damage to your brain and other vital organs that can result in death.>>

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...s/syc-20373250

Infants also are especially vulnerable to heat exhaustion, according to the article.

<<Young age or old age. Infants and children younger than 4 and adults older than 65 are at higher risk of heat exhaustion. The body's ability to regulate its temperature isn't fully developed in the young and may be reduced by illness, medications or other factors in older adults.>>

All individuals living in hot, humid environments should be aware of the symptoms of heat exhaustion as listed in the Mayo Clinic article.

<<Signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion may develop suddenly or over time, especially with prolonged periods of exercise. Possible heat exhaustion signs and symptoms include:

Cool, moist skin with goose bumps when in the heat
Heavy sweating
Faintness
Dizziness
Fatigue
Weak, rapid pulse
Low blood pressure upon standing
Muscle cramps
Nausea
Headache>>

When experiencing any of these symptoms, individuals should cool off is a shaded location and certainly halt physical activity.

Here's a listing of U.S. cities with the highest summer heat indexes. Miami-Fort Lauderdale is ranked number 7 on the list, and Orlando-Kissimmee and Tampa-St. Petersburg are ranked 9 and 10.

https://www.bertsperling.com/2013/07...ew-heat-index/

The National Weather Service provides the current heat index for individual cities.

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...8#.Xyuvta-SnIU

If electricity is interrupted (no fans, let alone air conditioning) during hot, humid weather when the heat index is above 91 degrees F., individuals should consider finding a cooling center, especially if older.

Dogs don't sweat and are more vulnerable to high heat indexes than humans. a consideration when taking the dog for a walk.

https://www.petplace.com/article/dog...fect-your-dog/

https://petprofessionalguild.com/Res...ex%20Chart.pdf

[LKJ1988]

I hate to sweat chet. In FL with year round blazing temps you are gonna sweat.

[Florida2014]

I always wonder how people lived in this environment back before air conditioning was invented. I guess they were all tougher back then!

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

I always wonder how people lived in this environment back before air conditioning was invented. I guess they were all tougher back then!

It is warmer in Florida today, according to the National Climate Assessment.



<<Temperatures increased again from 1970 to the present by an average of 2°F, with higher average temperatures during summer months.>>


https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/rep...ions/southeast



<<Miami recorded its seventh day so far this year in the 90s on Tuesday. In an average year, Miami would have only hit 90 once by this point in the year; the frequency of 90 degree days to date also claimed a record, McNoldy said in an email.

Miami’s highs of 94 and 95 degrees on April 9 and 10 respectively are even more impressive, considering that some years — like 2018 — pass without the city nicking 95 degrees even through the summer months, McNoldy said. It’s the earliest in the year that Miami has hit 95 degrees on record.>>


https://www.washingtonpost.com/weath...-florida-heat/


Apparently a key to Florida survival before air conditioning involved, not surprisingly, shade, and activity schedules that excluded afternoon heat. And, of course, many fewer persons lived in Florida before AC became common.


<<Willis Carrier – created a functioning air conditioner of some kind back in 1902, but it wasn’t until 1951 when window A/C units were introduced. Central air conditioning systems came along in the ’60s. (Movie theaters were sometimes the first place in town to have it, so people fled to the movies just to keep cool.) It was about 1970 when a majority of Florida homes became air-conditioned, and the Florida population soared. In 1950, the population here was 2.7 million. By 1960, with some air conditioning, the population increased to 4.9 million. In the ’70s more homes had “central air” and the population grew to about 19 million today. Today’s Florida is possible only because of air conditioning. Without it, we’d all be likely wearing sweaty T-shirts and sitting on a porch at night, hoping to catch a slight breeze. More likely, we wouldn’t be here.>>


https://theparklander.com/2017/07/07...-conditioning/


Fans, often hand-held, also played an important role in daily life.


<<

For decades in Florida's past, women popped a folding fan in their purses when they ventured out of the house all year long — still not a bad idea. And in most churches, the pews were stocked with fans stuffed into the hymnal racks. Sturdy cardboard rectangles with rounded edges, these fans were often stapled to wooden handles that looked like tongue depressors.




At home, if you were lucky, you might have a "whole-house fan" in the attic, strong enough to pull air through all the rooms of your dwelling and get the breezes blowing.>>




https://www.orlandosentinel.com/feat...723-story.html



https://www.tampabay.com/news/florid...ders-explores/

[Huasho]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

I always wonder how people lived in this environment back before air conditioning was invented. I guess they were all tougher back then!

That, or not knowing a difference, a different choice. I grew up swiming in the Pacific Ocean in Summer only because winters wont allow you to do that S of the Peruvian Border, The Humboldt Current from The S Pole keeps those waters ice cold even in the Heat of Summer.

We kids grew up with that and we never knew better. For Us Being at the beach, swiming all the time barely 3 Months a yr was the Highlights of our Vacations from School months.

Yrs later I moved to warmer Seas and I got used to that quite fast too, Sometimes I go back to the Old Country, in Summer the beaches teeming with people in the water..I step on a wave and my feet start turning purple in seconds, no kidding..How do those people in the ocean waves take it so normal ? I can't stay in those frigid waters even a minute.

They never new or tried the warmer choices.

Same with Heat Before A/C. People never knew of or Had nor tried A/C

[Racer46]

Originally Posted by Huasho

That, or not knowing a difference, a different choice. I grew up swiming in the Pacific Ocean in Summer only because winters wont allow you to do that S of the Peruvian Border, The Humboldt Current from The S Pole keeps those waters ice cold even in the Heat of Summer.

We kids grew up with that and we never knew better. For Us Being at the beach, swiming all the time barely 3 Months a yr was the Highlights of our Vacations from School months.

Yrs later I moved to warmer Seas and I got used to that quite fast too, Sometimes I go back to the Old Country, in Summer the beaches teeming with people in the water..I step on a wave and my feet start turning purple in seconds, no kidding..How do those people in the ocean waves take it so normal ? I can't stay in those frigid waters even a minute.

They never new or tried the warmer choices.

Same with Heat Before A/C. People never knew of or Had nor tried A/C

Plus low humidity while beneficial in some ways is damaging to your skin, throat, lungs and other body parts, so it isn't really any better, just different.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

I always wonder how people lived in this environment back before air conditioning was invented. I guess they were all tougher back then!

I sure was plus it was never as warm as it now in the fall thru spring. Summers were always hot. I grew up without A/C lee until i was 16.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by WRnative

It is warmer in Florida today, according to the National Climate Assessment.



<<Temperatures increased again from 1970 to the present by an average of 2°F, with higher average temperatures during summer months.>>


https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/rep...ions/southeast



<<Miami recorded its seventh day so far this year in the 90s on Tuesday. In an average year, Miami would have only hit 90 once by this point in the year; the frequency of 90 degree days to date also claimed a record, McNoldy said in an email.

Miami’s highs of 94 and 95 degrees on April 9 and 10 respectively are even more impressive, considering that some years — like 2018 — pass without the city nicking 95 degrees even through the summer months, McNoldy said. It’s the earliest in the year that Miami has hit 95 degrees on record.>>


https://www.washingtonpost.com/weath...-florida-heat/


Apparently a key to Florida survival before air conditioning involved, not surprisingly, shade, and activity schedules that excluded afternoon heat. And, of course, many fewer persons lived in Florida before AC became common.


<<Willis Carrier – created a functioning air conditioner of some kind back in 1902, but it wasn’t until 1951 when window A/C units were introduced. Central air conditioning systems came along in the ’60s. (Movie theaters were sometimes the first place in town to have it, so people fled to the movies just to keep cool.) It was about 1970 when a majority of Florida homes became air-conditioned, and the Florida population soared. In 1950, the population here was 2.7 million. By 1960, with some air conditioning, the population increased to 4.9 million. In the ’70s more homes had “central air” and the population grew to about 19 million today. Today’s Florida is possible only because of air conditioning. Without it, we’d all be likely wearing sweaty T-shirts and sitting on a porch at night, hoping to catch a slight breeze. More likely, we wouldn’t be here.>>


https://theparklander.com/2017/07/07...-conditioning/


Fans, often hand-held, also played an important role in daily life.


<<

For decades in Florida's past, women popped a folding fan in their purses when they ventured out of the house all year long — still not a bad idea. And in most churches, the pews were stocked with fans stuffed into the hymnal racks. Sturdy cardboard rectangles with rounded edges, these fans were often stapled to wooden handles that looked like tongue depressors.




At home, if you were lucky, you might have a "whole-house fan" in the attic, strong enough to pull air through all the rooms of your dwelling and get the breezes blowing.>>




https://www.orlandosentinel.com/feat...723-story.html



https://www.tampabay.com/news/florid...ders-explores/

It is much warmer in FL for sure. Blazing temps year round and soon to be 90's year round out past 70 years.