#wetbulb — Public Fediverse posts

Forget #HeatIndex. #WetBulb Globe Temperature Is Where It’s At.

"One of the most common terms we hear during the summer when discussing the weather is Heat Index. While the Heat Index can give you an idea of how dangerous the heat can be, there is another lesser known variable that may give a complete description, known as the #WetBulbGlobeTemperature.

"The Heat Index is a measure of how hot it feels to the human body, taking into account the temperature and the relative humidity. The higher either one value is, the higher the heat index and the greater the stress exerted on the body. Heat Index utilizes the temperature measured in the shade and therefore will likely be greater in the sun, where many activities take place. For temperatures taken in the full sunlight, Heat Indices can increase as much as 15°F. Humidity plays a major effect on cooling the body. If the humidity is high, sweat on the surface of the skin does not evaporate as quickly, slowing the cooling of the body. If the humidity is low, sweat evaporates too fast, leading to dehydration. [See link for Heat Index chart]

"Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (#WBGT) is similar to the Heat Index in that it is an indicator of the stress on the body from the heat. While it is not as well-known as the Heat Index, it’s not a new term. WBGT was developed in the 1950s after heat related illnesses affected the US armed services during the 1940s. After its implementation, there was a reduction in heat related illnesses during basic training. One fundamental difference between the Heat Index and WBGT is that the latter is calculated with the temperature measured in the sun. While Heat Index only takes temperature and Relative Humidity into account, WBGT takes several variables into account.

These variables include:

- Temperature
- Humidity
- Wind Speed
- Sun Angle
- Cloud Cover
- Physical Activity"

Read more:
https://www.dtn.com/forget-heat-index-wet-bulb-globe-temperature-is-where-its-at/

#WetBulbTemperatures #GlobalWarming #HighHumidity #ExtremeHumidity #Heatwaves

Last year at this time. Curious to see if #MountWashingtonObservatory breaks more heat records next week...

From 2024: The First #SevereHeat of the Year Sweeps Across the #Midwest and #Northeast

By Alexis George
Updated June 22, 2024

"New Englanders dragged fans and air conditioners out of their closets earlier this week as the first heat wave of the year gripped the Northeast. The hot and humid weather that arrived on Tuesday, June 18th, prompted officials to declare heat alerts as temperatures skyrocketed into the 90s across many locations. And the humidity only made it feel hotter, which caused the heat index to soar over 100 degrees in parts of the Northeast on Tuesday afternoon.

"We saw little relief from the hot temperatures on Wednesday as the heat wave continued. Temperatures across New England soared into the mid and upper 90s, with parts of the region posting higher temperatures than South Florida on Wednesday. #BostonMA set a record-high temperature of 98 degrees on Wednesday, which broke the previous record of 96 degrees. A new daily record high of 70 degrees was recorded at #MountWashingtonObservatory on Wednesday, which broke the previous record of 67 degrees that was originally recorded in 1995. The new record high temperature recorded at #MountWashington on Wednesday also fell a few degrees short of the highest temperature ever recorded in June and the all-time station high of 72 degrees. Here are some other records that were set on Wednesday:

- Millinocket, Maine, hit 97 degrees, a calendar-day record.
- Caribou, Maine, hit 96 degrees, matching its all-time high temperature. It also posted a heat index of 103, the highest on record.
- Bangor and Houlton in Maine tied calendar-day records of 95 degrees.
- Reading, Pennsylvania, tied a calendar-day record of 95 degrees.
- Syracuse, New York, tied a calendar-day record of 95 degrees.
- Poughkeepsie, New York, hit 94 degrees, a calendar-day record.
- Cleveland tied a calendar-day record of 92 degrees.
- Buffalo tied a calendar-day record of 90 degrees.
- Elkins, West Virginia, hit 90 degrees, a calendar-day record.
- DuBois, Pennsylvania, hit 80 degrees, a calendar-day record.

"The heat would not relent on Thursday, June 20th, as heat advisories and excessive heat watches remained in effect for parts of the Northeast. Temperatures were forecast to reach a scorching 99 degrees in #ConcordNH, and 95 degrees in Boston on Thursday. The excessive heat also caused some trains in the Northeast to operate at lower speeds on Thursday, as rail temperatures exceeded 135 degrees!

"Another daily record high temperature was recorded atop Mount Washington on June 20th, with the new daily record of 65 degrees breaking the previous record of 64 degrees, which was set in 2016 and equaled in 2020."

[...]

"The stubborn heat wave finally died down some by Friday, June 21st, as cooler air arrived behind the passing cold front. While this historic heat wave definitely made headlines in the Midwest and Northeast, on the flip side, a colder weather pattern dumped up to a foot of snow at some higher elevations in Montana and Idaho earlier this week, just days away from the summer solstice!"

Source:
https://mountwashington.org/the-first-severe-heat-of-the-year-sweeps-across-the-midwest-and-northeast/

#ExtremeWeather #ExtremeHeat #Heatwaves #ClimateChange #Weather2024 #heatwave 🥵 #SummerSolstice ☀️ #Wetbulb🌡️ #SummerSolsticeHeatwaves

Perhaps the best approach would be to get a device that can measure the local wet bulb globe temperature. This seems to be an option:

https://kestrelmeters.com/kestrel-5400-heat-stress-tracker

Does anyone have recommendations for wet bulb thermometers?

#WetBulb #WBGT

I now have two apps that tell me the wet bulb globe temperature (#WBGT), as well as a forecast:

- Heat Safety: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qvyshift.heat
- AIHA Heat Stress App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aiha.prod

https://www.aiha.org/press/aiha-launches-new-heat-stress-mobile-app

Sadly, these apps don't agree on the current WBGT. The man with one clock knows what time it is, the man with two clocks isn't quite sure!

Both depend on the National Weather Service, so who knows how long they will remain trustworthy, given Trump's war on weather forecasting.

#WetBulb

#ClimateDiary for July 10, 2024 -- #TornadoWarnings in #NewHampshire, #FlashFlood warnings in #Vermont. Still hot and humid in #Maine and feels like #FloridaWeather. It was hotter on the coast than it was inland (!!!). No sea breeze!
#Wetbulb #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe #GlobalWarming #WarmingOceans

so TIL that the #weather service has a page for US #WetBulbTemperature

This measurement will prolly become really important, soon.

#WetBulb Globe Temp (#WBGT) measures #heat stress in direct sunlight & takes into account: temp, #humidity, wind speed, sun angle & cloud cover.
so it's way better IMO than heat index, which is taken in shade.

#Climate #ClimateChange

human survivability limit is estimated to be wetbulb 95F. It's wetbulb 91 in south texas right now

https://www.weather.gov/tsa/wbgt

@peterreiners Thanks! Been hunting for #wetbulb maps since #MinistryForTheFuture came out in 2020. #WBGT #wawx