April 1, 2016
By Peter Hannam
...Sydney broke a slew of records last month, (click here) including the highest average minimum temperatures and seven nights when the mercury stayed above 22 degrees (71.6 F)....
The danger of heat is best understood in the cooling rates and coolest temperatures in the course of a day. The daytime temperatures can be high, but, if the nighttime temperatures are cool, the following day's infrared temperatures has a longer time to reach dangerous increases.
By Peter Hannam
...Sydney broke a slew of records last month, (click here) including the highest average minimum temperatures and seven nights when the mercury stayed above 22 degrees (71.6 F)....
The danger of heat is best understood in the cooling rates and coolest temperatures in the course of a day. The daytime temperatures can be high, but, if the nighttime temperatures are cool, the following day's infrared temperatures has a longer time to reach dangerous increases.
...A spell of wetter weather in the second half of the month meant the city's daytime temperatures came in only fourth-highest for March. The city, though, broke records for the most days in a row of 24, 25, 26 and 27 degrees "reflecting a prolonged period of warmth in coastal NSW", the bureau said.
The abnormal heat is hardly a one-month wonder. The October-March period in Sydney has been two degrees warmer than average for maximum temperatures, making it the hottest such period in more than 150 years of records, Acacia Pepler, a climatologist at the bureau, said....
These temperatures in Sydney are instructive. Sydney is a city. Cities are heat islands. The fact Sydney's coolest temperatures were still high provides a window to what can be expected as the direct solar rays reach into the USA's cities and towns.
Water vapor mitigates heat. With drier air comes higher temperatures.
Drier air is it's own concern because people feel less heat with less water vapor. Hydration in high heat is important, regardless of humidity.
Water vapor mitigates heat. With drier air comes higher temperatures.
Drier air is it's own concern because people feel less heat with less water vapor. Hydration in high heat is important, regardless of humidity.
