That's insane. I do pretty well with higher temperatures as long as I have water and a chance to cool down. 95 F (35 C) with high humidity? Sounds like a good day to go biking. But that's going from an air conditioned home or office to working hard for an hour or two and then back inside a temperature controlled building. I can't imagine having to live in temperatures like this with no relief. Beyond the immediate human toll, we'll have to see if this becomes a trend both in Indian and globally. Climate change tells us we'll see more severe weather more often. Will peaks over 50 C become the new norm? How will people cope?
Honestly? It's a scary thought. One of the reasons I tagged this as #poverty is because I don't think it takes much stretch of the imagination to see how climate change could hit the global poor the worse of all. I really, really hope we find a way to safely and efficiently handle these kinds of problems. If they really will become more frequent and more severe, a lot of people are going to need a lot of help.Beyond the immediate human toll, we'll have to see if this becomes a trend both in Indian and globally. Climate change tells us we'll see more severe weather more often. Will peaks over 50 C become the new norm? How will people cope?
True story. I once got in an argument with one of my buds about climate change and he was swearing up and down it had nothing to do with human activity. So I brought up the whole ozone layer and asked him what he thought about that. He called it, and I quote, "A damning coincidence." He sounded exactly like Rush Limbaugh when he said it.
I can't imagine what 50+C feels like. The hottest I've endured was 41C. It's regularly 35+ with 80% humidity where I live and that's already uncomfortable enough.
I camp in the desert frequently, so I've got some experience with really high temperatures(not in the 50+ range, but in the upper 40s). It's not so bad if you take it really easy, but without a good supply of drinking water and shade you get problems fast.
Upper 40s would still be unbearable for me. I tolerate cold much better than heat - my body much prefers the cold. I think my ancestors were Scandinavian.
I was expecting the humidity in India to be pretty high, but 5 minutes of research suggests that it's only about 20% at midday. I've spend quite a bit of time in the desert during summer as well, and while upper 40s is no picnic, it's pretty manageable once you're acclimated.
I was talking with my cousin over in pakistan and he said the temperature for today was around 50 C. My jaw dropped after I did the math