Heat Index
 

I regularly look at weather.com for zip 32159 and there is a severe weather warning any time the temperature "feels like 105"

Today, that kicked in when the actual temperature was 91F, and was still there when it was 93F. Last week it was there at 95F.

Yet each time it claimed it felt like 105F - does it ever say that it feels like 106F?

You're just trying to be funny, aren't you? It always feels like 106 to me.

True enough :-)

how do those gardeners etc. stand it out there for hours on end?

Ever notice or observe that when those S. Americans we see around here are working in the yard are wearing long sleeve shirts and have their heads covered, but us Americans that are doing the same thing, are wearing shorts, no shirts and seldom a hat? Who has it right?

On a day that the mercury was at the real 97 degrees the workers were roofing our new house. The heat reflected back from those shingles and no shade must have been terrible. They started at seven in the morning and were still working at seven at night.

I truly take my hat off to people who work in this heat and for long hours too.

The heat index is as ridiculous as the wind chill factor. Just tell us what the temperature us, and we'll decide what it "feels like". The news media latches to these kinds of silly ways to exaggerate reality, which gives them the opportunity to get more attention. Even the weather/temperature isn't immune to the news media's shenanigans . . . .

...but has anyone actually seen it listed as being above 105 F?

The heat index and wind chill factor are not media hype, they are real numbers and need to be paid attention to especially by the elderly.

Weathermen in the Northeast continue to use wind chill tables that don't stand up to scientific scrutiny. They just don't care, I guess. And if you need a weatherman to tell you it's hot outside, I guess you aren't paying attention to what's actually outside.

ok cybermuda that should teach you to ask a question, i've been outside when they said the heat index was 116, didn't feel oppressive or anywhere near that to me, but everyone is different, i would have thought with bermuda in your name you would be ok with hot....gn

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues 1965

However, I think the windchill factor is based on a chart by the National Weather Service and is reliable.
http://www.weather.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml

yes, I assumed it must actually get over 105, but I've never seen it shown as such on weather.com

Bermuda never reports it's temperature as being too high as it doesn't want to scare away potential visitors, so maybe the Florida Weather Police are up to the same trick :-)

From NOAA’s National Weather Service web site:

"Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States, resulting in hundreds of fatalities each year. In fact, on average, excessive heat claims more lives each year than floods, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes combined".

Blueridge
 

:BigApplause::BigApplause:UOTE=collie1228;382411]The heat index is as ridiculous as the wind chill factor. Just tell us what the temperature us, and we'll decide what it "feels like". The news media latches to these kinds of silly ways to exaggerate reality, which gives them the opportunity to get more attention. Even the weather/temperature isn't immune to the news media's shenanigans . . . .[/QUOTE]

I never saw my thoughts in print the way you put it. Amen! I couldn't have said it better.:BigApplause:.

Unfortunately the human body can't decide "what it feels like" just by knowing the temperature.

If it is cold, then a strong wind will make your body lose heat more quickly, and if it is hot then high humidity will prevent your body from shedding heat as quickly.

Sure, once you're out there you'll realise that it feels colder, or hotter, than you expected just from the temperature, but the benefit of checking the weather before you go out is that you won't need to go back in to put on extra clothing, or grab some water.

Although I understand the whole 'heat index' concept, I still find it funny that mankind has managed to survive without the weatherman telling him that he is too hot or too cold...geez. If you want to feel 'heat index'...remember sleeping in an upstairs bedroom before air conditioning, with no breeze??? And we're still here to talk about it!

Ah Chi...thanks for the memories!

Trish, you took the words out of my mouth. My great grandmothers both lived to their mid-nineties, in uninsulated, non-air conditioned, barely heated frame houses, and when they wanted to know what the weather was outside, they opened the door and took a look! I don't think either one, as uneducated as they were, needed a weatherman or a heat index to tell them they needed to stay in the shade or to drink cool liquids when it was hot. They had common sense . . . .

In our town it was 115 degrees last month (Philly area) when we were in TV where it was 15 degrees cooler!

We must be careful not to confuse mankind with man.

Mankind has survived wars, drought, famine and plague. Millions of men have not.

Likewise, hypothermia and hyperthermia have not wiped out mankind, but they have killed many men. Older people are especially susceptible so, if you want to extend your time in TV, pay attention to the weatherman.

We all need to pay attention to being hydrated in the heat and bundled suficiently in the cold weather. Listening to the weather is essential to one's health in planning events when out and about and when one needs to be indoors.

IMHO - In the northeast, I find weather people sometimes make things sound worse than they are to ensure they get better ratings. That's how they keep their jobs as opposed to accuracy of their weather forecast.

Weather forecast people are the only people that can be wrong everyday and still keep their jobs. :)

It's all about getting their ratings.

I recall my mother-in-law's story of when she and a couple of her friends sat in her lliving room in late summer of 1936 in St. Louis. All were at least 8 months pregnant.

My father-in-law went out every morning to buy a great block of dry ice. This was then placed in a wash-tub, and the pregnant ladies spent the day enjoying the cooling breeze generated from the fan blowing across the dry ice!

1936 remains one of the hottest summers on record in St. Louis! My sister-in-law was born that September; she laughingly claims to remember it!

SWR
:beer3:

My sister was also born in '36 in southern Nebraska. I heard many stories of the heat and draught of '36 from my parents, and if I remember correctly the winter of '36 was a record breaker as well.

I'm happy: today's figure is 108F, so they're not stuck at 105F

A lesson learned
 

As a young lad in the Navy(Seabees) I had to go to Gitmo Cuba and work on tarring roofs.

Even though we worked tropical hours, 7AM to 1PM, this experience was a major factor in motivating me to work hard in school after my service and not have to work like that the rest of my life!!!

I'm not taking deaths caused by weather lightly...I just find it annoying when I watch the weather and for some reason, they find it useful to have the weather person actually standing outside in the elements...and then use the weather bulletins to scare people. I don't know how it is in Florida, but we get repeated forcasts of things that never happen....each station tries to outdo the others in frightening people. A simple report, telling people that it is dangerously hot (cold) with advice as to what to do is better. If it's 105 degrees, repeatedly telling people that the 'heat index is whatever' is just stupid! Here in Michigan, we hear 'the wind chill index' constantly...all winter. If it's 10 degrees...it doesn't matter if the index is 10 below...it's too damn cold and no one should be taking an evening stroll. It's common sense, if you have an elderly neighbor, you should make sure they are ok...doesn't matter what the weatherman says...if it's hot...it's hot. Using the heat index is saying that we don't need to check up on someone unless the "index" reaches a certain level??? I just HATE the news stations using fear to up their ratings and this is exactly what the repeated use of heat and wind index is used for.

They also seem to like using their latest techno-gadgets, whether or not they are relevant to the viewer - radar images of a mini-tornado forming in the North West Territories, for example.