As our Abrupt Climate Change Catastrophe becomes more extreme the leading cause of death on the planet will be humans hitting their Wet Bulb Temperature.
“It has been widely believed that a 35°C wet-bulb temperature (equal to 95°F at 100% humidity or 115°F at 50% humidity) was the maximum a human could endure before they could no longer adequately regulate their body temperature, which would potentially cause heat stroke or death over a prolonged exposure.”
“Wet-bulb temperature is read by a thermometer with a wet wick over its bulb and is affected by humidity and air movement. It represents a humid temperature at which the air is saturated and holds as much moisture as it can in the form of water vapor; a person’s sweat will not evaporate at that skin temperature.”
“But in their new study, the researchers found that the actual maximum wet-bulb temperature is lower — about 31°C wet-bulb or 87°F at 100% humidity — even for young, healthy subjects. The temperature for older populations, who are more vulnerable to heat, is likely even lower.”
Humans can’t endure temperatures and humiditie’s as high and previously thought”
Short cut to calculating Wet Bulb Temperature
“In a recent study with Matt Huber, we showed that it doesn’t take that many degrees of global warming to permit peak heat summertime heat stress to (occasionally) become unsurvivable, in many parts of the world that are currently highly populated.”
“We came to this conclusion by considering a meteorological quantity called the wet-bulb temperature. You measure this quantity with a normal thermometer that has a damp cloth covering the bulb. It is always lower than the usual or “dry-bulb” temperature; how much lower depends on the humidity. At 100% humidity (in a cloud or fog) they match. In Sydney and Melbourne, even during the hottest weather, the wet-bulb usually peaks in the low 20’s C. The highest values in the world are about 30-31C, during the worst heat/humidity events in India, the Amazon, and a few other very humid places.
Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) – The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW Australia, paper shared here: ‘What is Wet Bulb temperature?‘
Orange – Heat stroke probable, Red – Heat stroke imminent
I'm an anti-imperialist, environmental activist and blue ocean sailor, who is passionate about the earth and all it's inhabitants without favour. Brace for imminent impact as we bare witness to the non-linear unraveling of the biosphere and habitability disappearing for most if not all complex life on the only habitable planet we know of. To quote President Niinistö in North Russia: ‘If We Lose the Arctic, We Lose the World’. Folks we have lost the Arctic.
Kevin Hester 
LikeLike
Via Sam Carana on Facadebook!
New research explores future limits of survival, livability in extreme heat conditions
ASU Associate Professor Jennifer Vanos models variables that shape livability under extreme heat conditions https://news.asu.edu/20231130-new-research-explores…
A physiological approach for assessing human survivability and liveability to heat in a changing climate – by Jennifer Vanos et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43121-5
LikeLike
LikeLike
Sam’s latest on high temps in the tropics, the humid tropics.
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2024/02/tragedy-set-to-unfold-in-tropics.html?fbclid=IwAR3ap8iIdSqFZuNFki0krESymF2c-Ob4Tko7VHRZlHt7qLTGWzYD8NEGMAY
LikeLike
LikeLike
“The heat-associated deaths confirmed in 2023 represented a huge jump from 2022, when there were 425 such deaths. There were 339 heat-associated deaths confirmed in 2021.”
The death rate from heat waves going exponential like all of our other graphs.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/arizona-heat-deaths?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR3fj2LK04vihAxIZOtcMp-0MsOOg-FTMFyawrmTnsA6hIqCyRvswgxmhTI
LikeLike
Sam Carana
Admin
· 9h ·
Tragedy set to unfold in Tropics (update)
Sam Carana
10h ·
TRAGEDY SET TO UNFOLD IN TROPICS (UPDATE)
Temperatures in the Tropics are rising rapidly. The image below shows the situation in the tropics (23.5°S-23.5°N, 0-360°E) through March 11, 2024, when the average daily surface air temperature was 26.7°C, i.e. 1.3°C above 1979-2000.
On April 24, 2016, it was 26.8°C, the highest temperature on record in the tropics and 1°C above 1979-2000, as the top image also shows.
The second image shows temperature anomalies over the past few years through February 2024.
Note that the anomalies in the above images are calculated from different bases. When calculated from a pre-industrial base, anomalies will be higher.
The danger is that tragedy will unfold over the next few months, as temperatures look set to exceed the 2016 peak in the tropics and cause widespread loss of life of people, livestock and wildlife, crop failure and ecosystem collapse in the tropics.
From the post ‘Tragedy set to unfold in Tropics (update)’, at:
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/tragedy-set-to-unfold-in-tropics-update.html?fbclid=IwAR2yUy9OPzxiVGSutFslRjbCgxX_GiJ1xg2-9pq3Ke_gKOHvSZOtQlEv3x8
LikeLike
“A heatwave stifling Brazil has set new records with Rio de Janeiro’s heat index hitting 62.3 degrees Celsius (144.1 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest in a decade, weather authorities say.”
“The heat index measures what a temperature feels like by taking into account humidity. The actual maximum temperature in the city was 42C on Monday, the Rio Alert weather system said.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/3/18/photos-record-heat-index-of-62-3c-scorches-rio-de-janeiro?fbclid=IwAR0tHmi-F4oyyl5fnq47pCMYPSzp77gqbhK5dY9ecwVnOinmvJyvu91sdyQ
LikeLike
Soon, eh? Well, I guess it just became soon.
The Global South is getting hit…near the end of their summer in S. America. And it’s only March up here in the Northern Hemisphere but it hit 76’F yesterday.
So is this what we can expect by…Aug/Sept? A feel-like temperature of 140’F including wet bulb??? I’ve only experienced 120’F and it was barely survivable…and I don’t live in a humid climate as this is the dry side mountains of Washington State…
Besides, my mercury thermometer doesn’t go that high but then I guess it doesn’t matter as I barely made it outside once a day in the heat dome of 2021.
Brutal Heat Wave Packs Rio de Janeiro’s Beaches
https://weather.com/news/weather/video/brutal-heat-wave-packs-rio-de-janeiros-beaches
___
sealinthe(soon to be burning again)Selkirks
LikeLiked by 1 person
62C is what it feels like!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/18/2230156/-Rio-de-Janiero-hits-a-record-heat-index-of-144-1-F-62-3-C?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR2JllbS8HuiCAaSmJXZC-sJmgRZpmh-oslDM2Xj4OmPBPwTjlXoTXOyaNA
LikeLike
This just popped up on the weather site. Uh-oh.
UN Weather Agency Issues ‘Red Alert’ For The Planet
https://weather.com/news/climate/video/un-weather-agency-issues-red-alert-for-the-planet
___
sealintheSelkirks
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The World Meteorological Organization’s “State of the Climate” report issued Tuesday has a stern warning for the planet – curb global warming or it will soon be too late.”
How quaint, it’s not too late!
LikeLike
And this was posted today. Simple explanation in 40 seconds, scary reality:
Study: Temperatures Rising, But Heat Index Is Rising Faster
https://weather.com/news/climate/video/study-temperatures-rising-but-heat-index-is-rising-faster
___
I find it interesting that weather.com is throwing up more ‘climate danger’ short vids than ever before. But since it has been between 70 and 76’F the last few days in these mountains, in freaking mid-March, best to be warning people about what is going to hit us up here this summer, yes?
Somehow, I don’t think many people are thinking about that around here yet. I sure the hell am.
sealintheSelkirks
LikeLike
Via Sam Carana
Romps, Heat index extremes increasing several times faster than the air temperature, ERL, 2024
Climate Physics (berkeley.edu)
LikeLike
“To estimate the impact of global warming on the heat index, we need to know how its two inputs—temperature and humidity—are changing. Any realistic change to the climate will alter mean diurnal cycles as well as distributions of daily-minimum and daily-maximum temperatures.”
Heat index extremes increasing several times faster than the air temperature – IOPscience
LikeLike
[…] Stalling? CheckExtinction Cascades? CheckA Minimum of Six Dozen Feedback Loops Triggered? CheckLosing a city/region to extreme Wet Bulb Temps? […]
LikeLike