[hunter2_]

I am very familiar with how a wet-bulb thermometer works and some of the ways it's useful (like at altitude for weather forecasts, and as one of the ways to build a hygrometer) but I'm struggling to make the connection that you've made as to why it'll be a household term. Mind explaining?

[flerchin]

Because a wet-bulb temperature of 35C is generally considered deadly, perhaps as low as 31C. Global warming that kills large swathes of Burma or India would be a household term I'd think.

[hunter2_]

But "heat index" is already a household term, and essentially has the same purpose [0]. It's like saying the Kelvin scale will end up in household use: I would disagree because while Kelvin is useful, it's not sufficiently more useful than C/F for most household usage.

> people cannot carry out normal outdoor activities past a wet-bulb temperature of 32 °C (90 °F), equivalent to a heat index of 55 °C (130 °F) [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature

[relaxing]

Wet bulb is not just a different scale, it's a different model with different inputs.

If it becomes useful for knowing whether or not you're going to die (and it could), I bet it catches on.

[roflyear]

At a certain wet bulb temp humans cannot cool themselves off - they die without access to some other means to get cool (like cold water, air conditioning, etc).

[hammock]

The threshold at which humans can no longer cool themselves naturally varies based on factors like health, activity, clothing and humidity.

Typically, a wet-bulb temperature above 95F (35C) poses a severe risk to health, especially with high humidity.

It's important to note that such extreme wet-bulb temperatures are relatively rare in most parts of the world

[PheonixPharts]

> extreme wet-bulb temperatures are relatively rare in most parts of the world

The concern the top-level comment has is that sooner rather than later these cases will not be as rare and so more people will become familiar with this concept.

[000ooo000]

That context here is so obvious, it almost makes you wonder if the comment you were replying to is a ChatGPT special.

[paranoidxprod]

To add to this with an article I just found

“The [wet-bulb] temperature reading you get will actually change depending on how humid it is,” says Kristina Dahl, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “That’s the real purpose, to measure how well we’ll be able to cool ourselves by sweating.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/31/why-you-need...

[roflyear]

Yes, wet bulb temp is in the context of humidity.

Apparently 95f or 35c is the "limit" for humans - where many people will have health issues if they can't cool off otherwise.

[ndsipa_pomu]

"Health issues" may be under selling it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature

> The theoretical limit to human survival for more than a few hours in the shade, even with unlimited water, is a wet-bulb temperature of 35 °C

[kzrdude]

Do we have any real world examples of this happening? That would help understanding.

[hammock]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Pakistan_heat_wave

As far as global warming goes, study results indicate that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C would prevent most of the tropics from reaching the wet-bulb temperature of the human physiological limit of 35 °C. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00695-3

[jchmrt]

Just to be clear, studies also indicate that we will not realistically limit global heating to anything close to 1.5C, unless very drastic actions are taken immediately (actions on a level that would be seen as extremely radical by most people)

[roflyear]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature