Time to know about wet-bulb temperature

 

I took this photo two years ago as I was building our cabin at Red Lake. It was June 19. I was finding it difficult to continue work. I kept getting dizzy, sick to my stomach and in a brain fog. This wasn't the hottest day in particular. There were many like it.

In the shade over by the dockhouse, it wasn't nearly so hot, probably 32 C or so. But I wasn't working in the shade nor could I. New home construction isn't done under a big tree. You can say the same about farm work, road work, fishing, tree planting or any other outdoor job. You have no choice but to be out in the sun. 

I don't remember the heat index for this particular day but frankly, it didn't matter. That is because the heat index is calculated for the shade. It is derived from the temperature on the thermometer in the shade combined with the relative humidity. The more humid it is, the higher the heat index.

We cool our bodies by sweating and this works best when the air is dry. You can't sweat at all in a bathtub.

By comparison, the wet-bulb temperature is calculated by the temperature on a thermometer (in the sun) wrapped in wet cloth and also takes into account the wind speed. The greater the wind, the better the evaporation that cools off the thermometer (and our bodies).

Research shows that humans will die in six hours with a wet-bulb temperature of 35 C. And that would be for a person laying naked, in the rain, with hurricane-force winds blowing over him. If you were standing up or moving around --activities that generate body heat -- the fatal temperature would be more like 32 C. 

At 37 C wet-bulb a person would die in minutes.

The wet-bulb method of calculating the temperature more accurately reflects the effect of hot weather on the human body.

I have just become aware of wet-bulb temperature from a book I'm reading: Five Times Faster by Simon Sharpe.

 I will undoubtedly have more to report about this book later but in essence, Sharpe says we have all under-estimated the dangers of climate change because we have been looking at it the wrong way. And by we I mean the scientists who study it and the governments they inform. And of course, us, the citizenry.

Our error comes from predicting what will happen rather than doing a risk assessment.  He offers examples of the difference between the two but I'm going to make up my own here.

Let's say I have loose lug nuts on the front wheel of my car and I drive it 50 km to Thunder Bay anyway. I can predict with near 100 per cent certainty that the front end is going to shake. There is about a 50 per cent chance that the wheel will wobble so badly that it enlarges the stud holes in the rim and ruins it. There is a bit less of a chance that this single trip will ruin the tire itself. Finally, there is a  chance that either the wheel falls off completely or the car just becomes unsteerable and leads to a crash. 

What's the worst that can happen? That's what a risk assessment is. Well, the worst is that the vehicle crashes and kills people either in my vehicle or in other vehicles or just standing along the road. Maybe they are kids waiting for the school bus. That is the worst case scenario.

Now that I have done the risk assessment I can figure how to avoid the worst. In this case, I could just tighten the lug nuts. The risk of killing someone isn't worth the probability that the wheel might stay on the whole trip.

We haven't done a risk assessment with climate change. We have been making predictions about what will happen, not what could be the worst. So let's just say it: the worst is that the world becomes too hot for humans to survive or to grow our food.

The wet-bulb temperature information above shows we aren't too far away from the worst.

We have already seen so-called heat waves that have killed people. More than 600 died in British Columbia a couple of years ago. This is Canada! It is one of the coldest-nations on Earth.

Coincidentally I just happened to see a realty company's listing for some property near ours on Red Lake where they inform buyers of the risk of climate change for this spot. They list it to be at Significant Risk. It currently experiences seven days of 29.1 C and that is expected to rise to 28 days of 32.6 C by 2050.

Insurance companies do risk assessments, especially for their own industry. What's the worst that can happen for them and their customers? They become insolvent. That is why they only take a 0.5 per cent chance.

And that is why they have stopped insuring buildings in Florida, California and many other places that are experiencing repeated weather-related catastrophes.

You can find real-time wet-bulb temperatures on the Windy.com website or app. I strongly advise everyone to get this app and learn how to use it. Your life may depend on it.

Another is Zoom Earth. You can set this to show you where the forest fires are, again, in near-real-time. This is the stuff we need to know to survive now.

Can you say Anthropomorphism?

 

Evening grosbeaks are all named Pete. Whenever a new one appears they all call out, "Pete!" Just like "Norm" in Cheers. It's always hilarious.

I knew you could.

Most people don't know many 16-letter words but this is one of them. Its usual definition is the act of giving animals human characteristics and it is most often said when trying to embarrass or belittle the human who is committing the said offence.

Let it be known that I anthropomorphize routinely, almost continuously, in fact. And I do it with no shame. No shame whatsoever. 

As Brenda once told a friend, "At our house, all the animals talk."

Another time Brenda said to me, "The animals, they speak to you."

The typical context of someone belittling people like me who anthropomorphize is "How ignorant and egotistical it is for you to think that animals must have human characteristics!"

My response, at least in my head, is "What an arrogant and ignorant ass you are!

"Are you such a dimwit that you don't know animals communicate, not only with each other, but to every other life form that is capable of receiving that communication?"

Have you ever sat in a deer blind and seen a doe whitetail swivel her head and perk up her ears toward the sound of a bluejay issuing an alarm call? 

Why do duck hunters sometimes put out a heron decoy near their spread? Because the presence of a heron communicates safety to the flock. Ducks trust herons.

The birds sitting on the tree near the house and looking into the window are saying, "Hello! The bird feeder is empty!"

A red fox eating sunflower seeds that have fallen on the snow at night is saying to himself, "I'm completely invisible to that guy standing in the brightly-lit sunroom." And then, "Crap, why didn't someone tell me he had a flashlight!"

Loons are the easiest creatures to communicate with. Loon books often interpret their calls. The so-called yodel is the loon on the water saying hello to another loon that is flying. That flying loon responds with a laugh. 

The mournful "howl" or wolf call sound is the loon saying, "Where are you?" to its mate. 

The "kook" call is, "Are you friendly?"

Loons are very social with humans. They will swim right up to you when you are playing the guitar on the dock or to see the dog. They can also put on water-dancing displays when you get too close to their nests. 

"Go someplace else!"

I have had so many personal moments with loons that it is hard to pick one to talk about but here is one from last summer. I was sitting on my chair casting from the dock after supper when I spotted one of the neighborhood loons way out on the bay. He immediately turned and headed my way,  just poking along.

When he was about 50 feet away he stopped swimming and seemed to say, "Catching anything?"

"Not a bite so far," I said aloud.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to call it a day," I felt the loon said to me. And with that he put his head under his wing and went to sleep.

I made a few more casts in directions away from the loon but then picked up my tackle box and went back to the cabin so I didn't disturb him. It was the polite thing to do.

This trail intersection busy over 48 hours

 

Timber wolf

Whitetail deer

Canada lynx

Snowshoe hare

I had cut a narrow walking trail from one of my "road-size" paths down to our surveyed property line last fall and decided a couple days ago to place a trail camera there. It recorded these predator-prey combinations. The wolf is looking for a deer and the lynx is looking for a bunny.

For hundreds of years lynxes and snowshoe hares (we just call them rabbits) have been documented to follow an approximate 10-year population cycle. When the hare population reaches its max, so does the lynx. I believe that pattern has now stopped. There are lots of rabbits all the time now and also lynxes.

The old 10-year cycle (some say nine years, some 11), coincided with the solar activity cycle. Just about every 10 years there are more solar storms and this resulted in a tiny warming of the Earth. It was miniscule but enough to help rabbits survive and with them, the lynx. Now, with climate change the Earth is warming every year. More warmth -- more bunnies -- more lynx. At least that is how it seems to me.

Using our brains to make sense

This photo has nothing to do with today's blog posting but just thought it was a nice shot to share

 We live in the Information Age and that is a challenge. We have at our fingertips information about good things and bad things, positive things and negative things, truths and half-truths, propaganda and outright lies. There never has been a better time to use our brains. Does this information make sense? Does it require investigation? What are the sources?

Did you see the story about the electric car that caught fire? I know you did because it was everywhere -- on TV news, all over the internet, radio talk shows. There was video.

BOY DID THAT CAR BURN!!!  Cue the Psycho music -- REEP REEP REEP!!!

So there you have it, proof that electric cars are dangerous, too dangerous. There is no choice but to stick with gasoline-powered vehicles.

Well, says my brain, do gasoline vehicles catch fire as well? A few clicks of the keyboard and guess what? Just in Canada there are 10,000 gas-powered vehicle fires annually, reports Transport Canada.

No Psycho soundtrack with this info.

A week or so ago the big news was about a man with an old electric Nissan Leaf who couldn't get a new replacement battery for it. REEP REEP REEP!!!

Have you ever heard of a gasoline vehicle where you couldn't get a new replacement engine? Gee, I think I have heard that, when I think about it.

Then there was the Consumer Reports story that electric vehicles have far more problems than gasoline ones. (Psycho music again.) This got so much press I expected to see it written on the sky. There was a follow-up story. The problems were not with the electric propulsion part of the car but with all the gadgets they have. 

I didn't see this next story on TV, and I bet you didn't either. A 2023 survey by the Canadian Automobile Association of Canadian electric vehicle owners found that 97 per cent would purchase another EV. Talk about satisfied! 

I did a little exercise last year involving what we were paying for gasoline, the cost of electricity, and the borrowing cost of an EV. We really only drive one vehicle in the winter -- a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. We drive it to Thunder Bay about five days a week. It's 50 kilometers or 30 miles each direction. Our gas bill was $600 a month. Had we been using an electric vehicle that we charged at home as just about everybody does, our monthly vehicle energy costs would have been $100. 

The financing cost of an EV was $600 a month. So, for $100 a month more than we are currently paying just for fuel we could own a brand new vehicle. 

Of course, gas prices were high at the time I did this calculation but that brings up another point: gas prices are nothing if not volatile. When Putin attacked Ukraine the price of gas jumped 50 per cent almost overnight. Not the price of electricity. It is the epitome of stability. It increases, sure, but usually with the cost of inflation, not because oil barons are using any excuse to make you pay through the nose.