[pstrateman]

Have they not heard of wet bulb temperature?

The chart in this wiki article is really good at showing the various effects.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychrometrics

[thehours]

I first learned about this from a recent (and excellent) Practical Engineering video [1] on the shape of cooling towers.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmbZVmXyOXM

[mmooss]

In theory, wet bulb should be used by weather reports on hot days, but for some reason it's not. IIRC it's hard to measure or to universalize - that is, it's hard to produce a consistent, meaningful, clear metric.

[pstrateman]

The "feels like" temperature weather reports use is an approximation of wet bulb.

[mmooss]

Yes. My point is that there isn't a consistent, reliable method to define, measure, and communicate that. And without such a method, authorities like the CDC can't make recommendations that may affect life and health.

[schiffern]

For a surprising application of this chart, check out Indirect-Direct evaporative cooling.

More cooling but (paradoxically) lower water consumption.

Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJl-NIgGDL8#t=89

Long-form (chart @29:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVgB557bz0I

[xattt]

Not many people have wet-bulb setups.