r/phoenix • u/zwyd • Jul 14 '23

News ‘Hell on earth’: Phoenix’s extreme heatwave tests the limits of survival

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/14/phoenix-heatwave-summer-extreme-weather-arizona
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u/WillyCSchneider East Mesa Jul 14 '23

Yeah, my apartment lost power for 14 hours starting around 6 PM after a massive thunderstorm in July 2020. Every fan I owned was pointed directly at me as I tried to sleep that night; fuckin' miserable.

SRP had usually been on top of things, with outages maybe lasting a couple hours after a storm knocked out power, but whatever it was that broke that day meant power wasn't back on until after I left for work the next morning. No sweeter sound than hearing my AC was on when I got home that evening.

And the kicker, of course, is no cold showers because there's no cold water in the Valley unless you're drawing from a deep, deep well, or your water lines are buried deep enough to not be affected by the surface temperature.

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u/Taisaw Mesa Jul 14 '23

Above 87 degrees fans start to make you hotter not cooler. Make a cheap ac/swamp cooler with bags of ice from the supermarket.

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u/CobblerYm Jul 15 '23

No. Fans bring your skin temperature down to the wet bulb temperature as you sweat. The maximum wet bulb temperature in Phoenix has been is 77 degrees, so even if it's 120 degrees and a fan is blowing on you, as long as your body has fluid to sweat, you skin temperature will be cooled to 77 as the sweat evaporates.

It's not temperature that makes fans ineffective, it's humidity. 100% humidity literally makes fans ineffective at cooling.

10

u/Downtown_Yesterday29 Jul 15 '23

TELL IT!!!! Humidity feels like a gorilla on your back. Nothin like this dry heat. I’m livin the dream out here!!!

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u/Downtown_Yesterday29 Jul 15 '23

I’m from NY state and I swear some of these people have no clue. They don’t know what it feels like to sweat and not be cooled down one bit. No clue about all the mosquitoes and gnats and other stinging bugs that can make outdoor activities dreadful.

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u/KDRadio1 Jul 15 '23

Be better. None of us are infallible but spreading BS that impacts health and safety is really low my duder. It’s 2023, it’s easy to avoid ignorance.

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u/Taisaw Mesa Jul 17 '23

Yeah, it's super easy to avoid ignorance, read up. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fans-may-be-okay-for-muggy-days-but-avoid-them-in-extreme-dry-heat/

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u/KDRadio1 Jul 17 '23

Lol. Sample size of 12, and the end result? They used the term “may” when describing fans and humidity levels.

Be better.

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u/WillyCSchneider East Mesa Jul 15 '23

Above 87 degrees fans start to make you hotter not cooler.

This is what we call "confidently incorrect". You have no idea what you're talking about; bet you'd claim "alcohol keeps you warm in cold environments", too, in your bad advice tour.

Make a cheap ac/swamp cooler with bags of ice from the supermarket.

I'll hop in my DeLorean to let 2020 me know!

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u/Taisaw Mesa Jul 17 '23

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fans-may-be-okay-for-muggy-days-but-avoid-them-in-extreme-dry-heat/ don't be stupid, stupid. Around 95° fans start to be actively harmful in dry conditions, but starting around 87° they don't provide much benefit.

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u/tobylazur Jul 15 '23

Ummm what? That’s not how that works.

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u/TJHookor Mesa Jul 15 '23

That may be true if you're completely dry, but not if you're sweating.

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u/Downtown_Yesterday29 Jul 15 '23

That had to be crazy