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Living in Texas or other super hot states?

Was firefighting your profession? When it comes to forest fires, about which I, blessedly, know nothing, I imagine that there must be community members who volunteer as well as professionals.
Yes. I did wildland fire for 30 years. My job description was a wildland Fire Management Specialist with the Bureau of Land Management.
For many years I managed fire operations.

Small local fire departments may utilize volunteers. Federal agencies may sign up private citizens under the AD program. (Casual Employment).
A person hired under the AD program to do fire work must meet the same qualifications as temporary or permanent federal employee

The days of hiring people of the street and going out to the fire line are long gone.
 
I never even heard the term "swamp cooler" before; I certainly had no idea how one worked. Now i have only the knowledge gleaned here from the list of material used in in making one and the information that sand and scorpions are found when one cleans them out! That scorpions live where they are used is probably a clue to their origins. There are no scorpions where I live.

I have been reading but not participating in this thread. Since I "have the floor" I wanted to mention that in the discussion of temperature at the Equator, no oe mention the role of elevation. My daughter was born on the Equator in late August in a very cool and temperate climate...at quite a high elevation. Not only did I like the temperatures, but I liked the dearth of bugs.
I am not sure about canada, but 47 or 48 use states have scorpions, they are all over america even in cold yankee land. However them ending up in swamp coolers has to do with them using water to cool, and being mostly used in deserts swamp coolers are a primary spot for critters to get water and cool off, and much like any critter in a bowl they get stuck and drown.

But swamp coolers are also called evaporative coolers, they can work even in the most humid environments like liousiana and florida, but their cooling dimishes. Also they do not work like air conditioners that draw moisture out of the air and require sealed rooms, instead they require a window on both sides of the house partially open, this allows a non window swamp cooler to draw in air and use velocity of air to not only cool the air but also push out moist air and replace it with new moist cool air.

If a swamp cooler can not constantly push air at high cfm and velocity, it just makes the house unbearably humid. But even in high humidity swamp coolers work just not as well, for example in the desert dropping temps by 30 degrees is normal when dry, in humid areas it might be by 10 degrees, either way 20 degrees is decent for an ac unit, and 30 degrees is having perfect insulation and ac function. So for a swamp cooler 30 degrees in the summer in dry deserts is extremely efficent cooling. For humid areas it is only half or slightly less effective, which is why air conditioners are used throughout the southeast.
 
I have no trouble to change the places and the temperatures too. Lived in winter in UK, lived one summer in Mexico. Both where fine somehow
 
I have no trouble to change the places and the temperatures too. Lived in winter in UK, lived one summer in Mexico. Both where fine somehow
Exactly. Homeless folks may have a problem... they don't have a thermostat. The rest of us are fine.
 
Exactly. Homeless folks may have a problem... they don't have a thermostat. The rest of us are fine.
After seeing these headlines when I first woke up, I find your comment startling. This was on the front page of "The New York Times" in the place for the story of second most importance.

"...at a time when climate change is causing wildfires to be larger and more intense, it’s also one of the most extreme, so big and hot that it’s affecting winds and otherwise disrupting the atmosphere.

'The fire is so large and generating so much energy and extreme heat that it’s changing the weather,' said Marcus Kauffman, a spokesman for the state forestry department. 'Normally the weather predicts what the fire will do. In this case, the fire is predicting what the weather will do.'"


 
We don't have wild fires here. Its just naturally hot as Hades here in July and August. But that's ok. We have totally enclosed homes with air conditioning and ceiling fans... and cable and GENERAC... and walk-in tubs and freezers to store our ribeyes... all sorts of wonderful things.
 
After seeing these headlines when I first woke up, I find your comment startling. This was on the front page of "The New York Times" in the place for the story of second most importance.

"...at a time when climate change is causing wildfires to be larger and more intense, it’s also one of the most extreme, so big and hot that it’s affecting winds and otherwise disrupting the atmosphere.

'The fire is so large and generating so much energy and extreme heat that it’s changing the weather,' said Marcus Kauffman, a spokesman for the state forestry department. 'Normally the weather predicts what the fire will do. In this case, the fire is predicting what the weather will do.'"


Hey, I'm with ya. I hate wildfires. That's one of the reasons I left California and retired in Texas.
 
I live in the mid Atlantic region, in northern Delaware, and we routinely get temperatures in the 90°+ Fahrenheit range(32° - 36°C), but also with humidity so high it obscures the view of trees in the distance! That easily brings the heat index up into the 105° to 112° range. As Murphys law dictates, we rarely get any relief from the wind when it's super hot out, but it blows like crazy in mid winter, when it's cold outside! Oh, and I'm fortunate enough to work in it!

In 1995, we had a summer where temps were in the 90s almost every day from late June through September. One day in late June or July 1995, a friend and I (inappropriately) took his little 12' flat bottom bass boat out into the Delaware Bay, through the Roosevelt inlet near Lewes Beach, Delaware.

The temperature hit over 100°, with record humidity, pushing the heat index over 120°! I was used to working outside, so it was just really uncomfortable for me, but he was NOT accustomed to being outside in high heat & humidity for long periods. At one point, I lept overboard into the bay, fully clothed(which annoyed him at the time for some reason).

But not long afterwards, he began suffering from heat stroke. We cut the trip short, loaded up the boat, and I ended up driving his truck the 2 hours back home, because he was passing out, even after we'd gotten drinks and had the A/C cranked up.
 
After seeing these headlines when I first woke up, I find your comment startling. This was on the front page of "The New York Times" in the place for the story of second most importance.

"...at a time when climate change is causing wildfires to be larger and more intense, it’s also one of the most extreme, so big and hot that it’s affecting winds and otherwise disrupting the atmosphere.

'The fire is so large and generating so much energy and extreme heat that it’s changing the weather,' said Marcus Kauffman, a spokesman for the state forestry department. 'Normally the weather predicts what the fire will do. In this case, the fire is predicting what the weather will do.'"


If you look at historic records of wildfires and high heat, it was actually MUCH worse in the 1920s and 1930s than now. Even the New York Times USED TO report on weather and wildfire related instances, but since then they've become agenda driven, so they conveniently omit their own historical record, and that of the govt agencies who recorded ALL OF THIS back then.

Also, in the past 70-100 years, we've built A LOT of homes and businesses in areas that used to be natural and covered in forests. Then, California STOPPED performing common sense forestry maintenance, no longer clearing out overgrowth, and no longer doing controlled burns in most areas where they are NEEDED!

That equals more, bigger fires, which cause more monetary damage, because now there are developments where they didn't used to exist!
 
I have a simple question here.
How?

I honestly think I'd die in that heat as the UK can become unbearably hot and that's nothing compared to what you guys get.

We had a guy at work who had lived in the Texas for 20 years and was moving back to the UK and bringing his wife and kids who were born in Texas with him and for them, this place will feel like living in a fridge I imagine.

How do you manage?
Where in Texas?

I mean the UK is humid, it’s in the middle of the ocean, whereas much of Texas is desert. I was exploring an abandoned military base the other weekend in the Mojave desert, during the afternoon, with 109 degree temperature and it was very pleasant because there’s no humidity in the air,
 
I am not sure about canada, but 47 or 48 use states have scorpions, they are all over america even in cold yankee land. However them ending up in swamp coolers has to do with them using water to cool, and being mostly used in deserts swamp coolers are a primary spot for critters to get water and cool off, and much like any critter in a bowl they get stuck and drown.

But swamp coolers are also called evaporative coolers, they can work even in the most humid environments like liousiana and florida, but their cooling dimishes. Also they do not work like air conditioners that draw moisture out of the air and require sealed rooms, instead they require a window on both sides of the house partially open, this allows a non window swamp cooler to draw in air and use velocity of air to not only cool the air but also push out moist air and replace it with new moist cool air.

If a swamp cooler can not constantly push air at high cfm and velocity, it just makes the house unbearably humid. But even in high humidity swamp coolers work just not as well, for example in the desert dropping temps by 30 degrees is normal when dry, in humid areas it might be by 10 degrees, either way 20 degrees is decent for an ac unit, and 30 degrees is having perfect insulation and ac function. So for a swamp cooler 30 degrees in the summer in dry deserts is extremely efficent cooling. For humid areas it is only half or slightly less effective, which is why air conditioners are used throughout the southeast.
Thank you for the explanation. This was on the front page of "The New York Times" today.

 
Arizona.
in the desert it is going to be 113 to 117 range most of next week. Bad news it will only cool off to the high 80's low 90's at night.

A/C a must.
stay hydrated.
When outside, hats are a must, stay in shade as much as possible.
Any yard work is done real early in the morning.

But hey, so far its a dry heat.
I don't get the hat thing? When I lived up north the thought was wear a hat in the winter it help to keep as much as ten percent of your body heat in your body. If that's true how does wearing a hat help to keep one cool? I live in florida where in general we average a ton of ninety plus degree days with heat indexes over a hundred, day in and day out. This year has been a bit unusual because of all of the rain we've been getting.
 
I don't get the hat thing? When I lived up north the thought was wear a hat in the winter it help to keep as much as ten percent of your body heat in your body. If that's true how does wearing a hat help to keep one cool? I live in florida where in general we average a ton of ninety plus degree days with heat indexes over a hundred, day in and day out. This year has been a bit unusual because of all of the rain we've been getting.
Why do men in pictures of Africa wear Safari hats? I assume to keep direct sun off their heads and maybe to retain sweat? Someone who knows can tell me. Is it the same reason Texans wear Ten Gallon Hats?
 
I don't get the hat thing? When I lived up north the thought was wear a hat in the winter it help to keep as much as ten percent of your body heat in your body. If that's true how does wearing a hat help to keep one cool? I live in florida where in general we average a ton of ninety plus degree days with heat indexes over a hundred, day in and day out. This year has been a bit unusual because of all of the rain we've been getting.
hat in the summer in AZ is more for sun protection (UV rays), than it is to keep you cool.
 
I don't get the hat thing? When I lived up north the thought was wear a hat in the winter it help to keep as much as ten percent of your body heat in your body. If that's true how does wearing a hat help to keep one cool? I live in florida where in general we average a ton of ninety plus degree days with heat indexes over a hundred, day in and day out. This year has been a bit unusual because of all of the rain we've been getting.
Depends on the type of hat, in texas the cowboy hat is common, which was a mod of a sombrero. Both the cowboy hat and sombrero keep the sun off your head and keep it shaded, they were built with workers in mind not fashion, they also work great it the rain.

Keep in mind this is assuming palm or straw hats, not the fancy beaver fur hats that is common with cowboy hats, as beaver rabbit etc fur do not breath at all and a workers hat needs to breath and provide protection from the sun. The fancy fur hats commonly used by stetson are more a winter thing than a summer workers thing.
 
I have a simple question here.
How?

I honestly think I'd die in that heat as the UK can become unbearably hot and that's nothing compared to what you guys get.

We had a guy at work who had lived in the Texas for 20 years and was moving back to the UK and bringing his wife and kids who were born in Texas with him and for them, this place will feel like living in a fridge I imagine.

How do you manage?

We didn't.
My wife has MS and she does not manage well in super hot weather.
One day she drove to Walmart in Mansfield TX.
Gets out of the store, rolls back to the van, rolls up the ramp and then shuts the door and accidentally dropped her keys in a spot she couldn't reach while in the wheelchair.
The paramedics said she was five minutes from death when they got to her. I arrived about two minutes later.

She was a prisoner in the house five months out of every year and we finally decided we'd had enough, so we moved back to Southern California.


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I have a simple question here.
How?

I honestly think I'd die in that heat as the UK can become unbearably hot and that's nothing compared to what you guys get.

We had a guy at work who had lived in the Texas for 20 years and was moving back to the UK and bringing his wife and kids who were born in Texas with him and for them, this place will feel like living in a fridge I imagine.

How do you manage?
I don't manage, that is why I live in Southern California. Shitty politics, but best climate in the nation, if not most of the world.
 
Arizona.
in the desert it is going to be 113 to 117 range most of next week. Bad news it will only cool off to the high 80's low 90's at night.

A/C a must.
stay hydrated.
When outside, hats are a must, stay in shade as much as possible.
Any yard work is done real early in the morning.

But hey, so far its a dry heat.
What do people do there when the power goes out?

I have been in Phoenix in 100+ temps but at a conf with ac, shopping in ac.

OTOH, have camped many times in Tucson arena, spring and fall and we had to be out of our tent when the sun came up and we hiked in the desert (was with the herpetologist, if you remember) and it was nuts hot. Drank constantly and never had to pee.
 
What do people do there when the power goes out?

I have been in Phoenix in 100+ temps but at a conf with ac, shopping in ac.

OTOH, have camped many times in Tucson arena, spring and fall and we had to be out of our tent when the sun came up and we hiked in the desert (was with the herpetologist, if you remember) and it was nuts hot. Drank constantly and never had to pee.

- When the power is out, we sweat a lot. :giggle:.
I have never seen a full valley wide blackout. Most outages are less than 24 hrs. Some will go to friends who are not impacted. Towns that have power will open up cooling centers, some just wait it out.

- Hydration is the key during the summer.
 
We reached 102-109 (F) here in TN. Humid asf. Hate this weather.
 
We didn't.
My wife has MS and she does not manage well in super hot weather.
One day she drove to Walmart in Mansfield TX.
Gets out of the store, rolls back to the van, rolls up the ramp and then shuts the door and accidentally dropped her keys in a spot she couldn't reach while in the wheelchair.
The paramedics said she was five minutes from death when they got to her. I arrived about two minutes later.

She was a prisoner in the house five months out of every year and we finally decided we'd had enough, so we moved back to Southern California.


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I hope you got a second key for her to carry for those "just in case" moments.
 
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We didn't.
My wife has MS and she does not manage well in super hot weather.
One day she drove to Walmart in Mansfield TX.
Gets out of the store, rolls back to the van, rolls up the ramp and then shuts the door and accidentally dropped her keys in a spot she couldn't reach while in the wheelchair.
The paramedics said she was five minutes from death when they got to her. I arrived about two minutes later.

She was a prisoner in the house five months out of every year and we finally decided we'd had enough, so we moved back to Southern California.


View attachment 67344798

I'm glad your wife is ok, that must have been a terrible situation.
I just can't imagine living in some of the temperatures that the US is seeing at the moment. I'd just be unable to go outside.

Stay safe everyone.
 
What do people do there when the power goes out?

I have been in Phoenix in 100+ temps but at a conf with ac, shopping in ac.

OTOH, have camped many times in Tucson arena, spring and fall and we had to be out of our tent when the sun came up and we hiked in the desert (was with the herpetologist, if you remember) and it was nuts hot. Drank constantly and never had to pee.
The problem is you were hiking during the day. You only exert yourself from 3 or 4 am to noon and then it’s time for Siesta until the evening. Think like the indigenous people did.
 
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