Heat burst - Wikipedia
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  • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
    5·
    8 hours ago

    I’ve been in 52 C heat (125 F) and it’s no joke, but you can still walk around, even in the sun, without exerting yourself too much.

    I’ve also been in a room at 70 C (almost 160 F) for a few minutes and that was terrifying. The air is as if burning your insides, it’s absolutely unbearable. There is a world of difference between these two. I image 60 C for four hours would start killing people, particularly the elderly.

    • turtlesareneat@piefed.caEnglish
      11·
      8 hours ago

      35c (95 f) is the wet bulb temperature where the human body stops being able to cool itself. Humidity plays a role, but generally above this temperature you’re going to get heat stroke if you can’t find external ways to cool off. So yeah 52c would definitely be enough to be killing people without a/c, fans, cold water, etc.

      • village604@adultswim.fanEnglish
        3·
        5 hours ago

        Yeah, no. 95F is a normal summer temperature here. I’ve done farm work for hours in triple digit temps in direct sunlight without getting heat stroke.

        It’s something you have to be acclimated to, though, and you have to know to frequently drink water.

        • marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today
          1·
          2 hours ago

          A) Drinking water is external cooling, just inefficient.

          B) No, your anecdote doesn’t change reality. though the 35c is a good reference point humidity does matter. If you cannot sweat you cannot cool down. Period. End of story.

          At 35c you MUST be able to sweat or cool down in some other way, or you will die. just the close you are to 100% relative humidity at that temp, the less you will be able to sweat. So you will have one less method of cooling down.

          Many people have no problem living in 35-40c temps with low humidity. Maybe up to 45c with 0% relative humidity.

          There are not humans that have survived 35c at 100% humidity for more than 2 hours. They don’t exist on this planet. They physically can’t.

      • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
        4·
        6 hours ago

        Humidity plays a big role. You can still cool down at 52 C if the air isn’t very humid (that is, when the wet bulb temperature is low enough). Wet bulb temperature is a particularly useful metric because it incorporates evaporative cooling in it. Sadly most thermometers can’t measure it.