I have not been able to make much headway on my latest camper modification project. All the materials have been procured and ready to go but now with rain & heat the work outside have almost came to a halted.
As warm-blooded mammals, we humans have a constant body temperature, around 98 °F. And our bodies are designed to work pretty much right at that temperature, so there’s a constant balance between heat loss and heat gain.
Problems start when our bodies can’t lose heat fast enough (or lose it too fast in the cold, but let’s focus on heat for now). When our core temperature gets too hot, everything from organs to enzymes can shut down.
Extreme heat can lead to major kidney and heart problems, and even brain damage.
Our body works to maintain its core temperature in hot environments mostly by using one powerful tool: sweat.
The sweat we produce evaporates into the air, sucking heat from our skin and cooling us down.
Humidity cripples this cooling method—if it’s so humid that there’s already a lot of water vapor in the air, then sweat can’t evaporate as quickly, and sweating won’t cool you down as much.
Researchers often use measures like heat index or wet-bulb temperature to consider how excessive heat and humidity interact. This way, they can focus on a single number to identify unlivable conditions.
Heat index is an estimate that you’ve probably seen in weather reports; it factors in both heat and humidity to represent how the weather feels.
Wet-bulb temperature is literally what a thermometer measures if a wet cloth is wrapped around it. (The temperature in the forecast is technically a dry-bulb temperature, since it’s measured with a dry thermometer.) Wet-bulb temperature can estimate what your skin temperature would be if you were constantly sweating, so it’s often used to approximate how people would fare in extreme heat.
A wet-bulb temperature of around 95 °F, is pretty much the absolute limit of human tolerance.
Above that, your body won’t be able to lose heat to the environment efficiently enough to maintain its core temperature. That doesn’t mean the heat will kill you right away, but if you can’t cool down quickly, brain and organ damage will start.
With all that said about the heat, this country girl is staying in the Air Conditioned areas for these heat wave days.
I Hope y'all Are Staying Cool And Keeping Ahead Of The Storms.
God Bless!
Nana
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