Dept. of Surfacing

[kaffy_r]

It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity ...

... which is, of course, a rank lie, at least here in Chicago and a fair amount of the American Midwest. *checks weather site* It is currently 98F, with a heat index of 108F, thanks to the aforementioned humidity. This is the third day, and I imagine I should be grateful that the heat index wasn't up at 117F, as it was yesterday and the day before. 

I'm still griping, because Monday was supposed to be cooler, dammit, and not just a couple of degrees cooler. The current forecast claims that Tuesday is going to be much cooler, trust us! I glare at the weather gods balefully over the top of my glasses, because how can I trust them?

Oh, give it up, kaffy_r; you're not dealing with the kind of killer weather other people have lived through; you know, the kind that also kills people either quickly or slowly. You're not even outside today in Chicago's heat. I can't help thinking about people who are forced to work outside in these types of temperatures. Landscapers, construction workers, postal carriers, Streets and San workers ... we expect them to keep working, and can only hope that their various bosses at least give them significant breaks, and a lot of cool water. 

I know Chicago, Evanston and other areas have opened public buildings as daytime and/or early evening cooling centers for people without AC, but I've always wondered what happens to the folks who come to those centers to have some cooling relief, when they're ushered out and the doors close? Do they have to go to their homes, or their tents under DuSable Lake Shore Drive, and live through the still existent misery of hot and humid nights?

This turned into a gripe about hot weather, leavened with a bit of social justice awareness. And here I'd planned to update a breathlessly waiting world about what I've done in the last couple of weeks. I suppose I can still do a bit of that. So, in no particular order here are some of the things I've done:

Gone out and yelled at guys who I'm reasonably sure were ICE, when I saw their unmarked-but-blue-light- flashing SUV blocking our street, and realized the guys were wearing the exact type of tan ball caps, tan short sleeved shirts (the better to show their tat sleeves) and sunglasses that show up in recent videos of extra-judicial kidnappings off Chicago streets. Oops, can't forget the bulletproof vests with "Police" on them; cool, cool, except Chicago cops don't wear tan-colored anything. They were talking to a guy they'd ordered out of the car parked just outside my office window. Grabbed my phone, told Bob, then dashed out and yelled "Are you Chicago police?" twice as they were getting back into the unmarked car and leaving. No answer; what a surprise. I asked the guy they'd been talking to if he was alright, He said he was, so I went back inside, although I have a blurred photo of the car leaving. Who knows ... he could be an undercover guy they were talking to, but our neighborhood is significantly Hispanic, and has other significant immigrant communities, and I think I mentioned earlier this month that ICE has been seen in our area. I don't know what I would have done if it had escalated, but if I see any of these bastards on my street again, I hope I go out and confront them. 

Hmm. Oh, I successfully made another two loaves of bread. Go, me! 

And that's enough*. 

* Yes, I'm fully aware of the Mid-East slowly but potentially all-too-surely becoming Ground Zero for WW III thanks to that man (and without John Bolton onside ... JFC) but I'll have to assemble some more spoons to chat reasonably about that fun stuff.

Comments

[bibliofile]

Argh about the weather. This shit'll kill ya.

Good call on the tan-wearing men: yeah, Chicago cops wear blue.

[kaffy_r]

This shit'll kill ya.

Truer words were never spoken. I see, thanks to Wunderground, that your neck of the woods is in just about the same lovely condition. Stay cool, stay safe!

Chicago cops wear blue.

Abso-fuckin-lutely.

[redbird]

It is, of course, the heat and the humidity, but that's not as snappy.

Today's Your Local Epidemiologist email started with a section on heat and health risks. One thing she said is that humidity interferes with the body's natural cooling, because liquids, including sweat, evaporate faster in drier air.

[kaffy_r]

but that's not as snappy.

There's so much to both unpack and attach to this particular cliche ... and it's really fun to consider such unpacking and attaching. But the heat and the humidity have left my brain less than optimally sharp. Heh.

And yes, humidity sucks for precisely the reason that Your Local Epidemiologist's email noted.

[dreamshark]

I hope it's gotten better by now in Chicago. The heat dome moved on yesterday from Minneapolis, leaving a perfectly lovely warm summer day in its wake. It's amazing how fast the mood can shift.

[kaffy_r]

Just checked; it's 79 in my neighborhood, with a heat index of 82. At least that's what it claims. We got home from doing necessary tasks outside just about 45 minutes ago and it was still miserable - especially the humidity. I need to check with my brother up in Nova Scotia; they're supposed to be getting the heavy heat starting today.

[dreamshark]

It sounds like it's a lot more humid where you are. It's 83 here, but the humidity has plummeted to 28% so it feels great! The dew point (a much more useful number than that totally bogus "Feels like" nonsense) is an astonishingly low 47 degrees!

[kaffy_r]

Yep. It's definitely more humid. I just checked and it's at 77% humidity, expected to go up to 82 percent later tonight. Since I'm not familiar with how to interpret the dew point, I'm quite happy to go with the heat index; it's never steered me wrong.

[dreamshark]

The heat index is ridiculous because it is missing a crucial piece of information. Right now the Temperature in Minneapolis is 81 but the Heat Index claims that it "feels like" 79. At WHAT HUMIDITY? Zero humidity? "Normal" humidity for the current location? "Normal" humidity for Tucson, Arizona? Probably the latter, since it feels great.

The humidity is actually a startlingly low 26% and the dewpoint is 43. It doesn't feel remotely like 79 degrees normally feels in the summer in Minneapolis, where the humidity is usually closer to what you're experiencing right now in Chicago and 79 is Too Damn Hot. I don't know how they calculate that number, but it is clearly meaningless without the missing factor.

Dewpoint is a genuine fact-based calculation that you can learn to interpret or not but it is clear how they come up with it. The Heat Index is a Windchill Factor wannabe that was created in 1979 to make summer weather forecasts more exciting. The guy who came up with it originally called it an "assessment of sultriness" which is an even sexier term that they probably should have kept.

[kaffy_r]

Thanks for the information - I took a look at some of the history, and it's really quite interesting.

I did find this page, which has two very specific formulas for figuring the heat index. It's from the North Carolina Climate Office.

[dreamshark]

I didn't find an actual formula in my cursory search, but I wouldn't be surprised if every state has its own. Did you notice that Canada has a different formula with a different name that also purports to calculate how the weather "feels?" I get very strong pseudo-science vibes off the whole thing.

[kaffy_r]

I haven't paid a lot of attention to the Canadian humidex system, but I'm not surprised that there are slightly different formulas.

Ah, well: I'm happy to feel that the temperature around here is falling, and I look forward to seeing the humidity fall as well. I'm glad you folks up in Minneapolis-St. Paul have escaped the heat dome. Let's see what the rest of the summer brings to us all!