We have a
new weather person on one of our local stations. Her profile says that she is actually a
meteorologist, but that appears to be in question. For on the July 12, 2012 10 p.m. CDT broadcast,
she said, “There is nothing worse, I think, than having the really hot
temperatures, but the fact that we’ve just had this drought for so long, it
makes it that much worse because the dryer air is able to heat up faster. So, that’s why we get those heat index values
so incredibly high.”
In
an attempt to allow her to retreat some from the position she took, I emailed
the following to her. I
would like to thank you for setting the record straight (indirectly) about 110
Degrees in Phoenix not being so bad because it is a "dry heat" by
explaining that dry air heats up faster, which is the why heat indexes get so
incredibly high, last Saturday on the 10 p.m. newscast. For I have been in 110 degree heat in
Phoenix, and it sure didn't feel all that good!
Of course, you might have a tough time convincing the rest of the
meteorologists out there. For they have
been explaining that the heat index is derived from air temperature and
humidity, with the higher the humidity, the higher the heat index.
She
sent the following reply. Of
course. I always like to try and explain what I know to the viewers out there.
While heat index is a result of the air temp and humidity, it chances vastly
from region to region.
Thanks for watching!
If
you don’t get it, the [heat index] indicates what it really feels like, which
is derived from a combination of the actual air temperature and the relative
humidity in a given area. In other
words, it is just like [wind chill] that is talked about by meteorologists in
the winter time, which is derived from a combination of the actual air temperature
and the wind strength in a given area.
In
an attempt to connect dots a little further for you, it is true that heat
indexes can vary greatly from area to area, but this has nothing to do with how
dry the air is. That is, except in
reverse of what she was saying. For
areas near bodies of water (stream, rivers, swamps, large ponds, lakes and
oceans) can have much higher heat indexes than those with the same actual air
temperature that are not so near bodies of water on account of the relative
humidity usually being much higher near bodies of water.
I
was advised against clearly identifying her.
Suffice to say that she is fairly smokin’ hot in appearance, and her
voice doesn’t sound like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. Therefore, she should have a successful
career as an on-air personality on local news outlets, but this is a far cry
from truly being a meteorologist—let alone a journalist.
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