Stay Safe From Spontaneous Deaths This Summer
This summer, wet-bulb conditions are more prevalent than ever. Within such conditions, sweat cannot cool one’s body properly, making death by overheating a reality for those who cannot beat the heat.
Wet-bulb conditions are conditions of extreme heat and humidity and may occur at temperatures of 88°F/31°C and humidity of at least 95%.
These conditions prevent your body from taking the measures to cool itself down, which in many cases leads to overheating and death.
Areas of the world where this is most concerning are those without access to air-conditioning, preventing them from combatting such heat.
Wet-bulb conditions have been happening more often all around the world and cause a major concern, as this has been more of a common occurrence in the West, specifically the Americas.
In the second week of July particularly, portions of the Northwest saw all-time high record-breaking temperatures. This led to preparation for wildfires at a moment’s notice, as they were encouraged by wet-bulb conditions.
These conditions are here sooner than predicted. Scientists were not expecting this until the late 21st century, meaning our current reality was worse than the worst-case scenario from decades prior.
From the years of 1979–2017, data collected stated that there were 7000 instances of wet-bulb conditions, with most of them being concentrated in South Asia, the coastal Middle East, and southwest North America.
Studying them found that just being outside in these conditions meant an almost-certain death no matter the circumstances.
One of the scientists from this study, Professor Radley Horton, from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, says “Even if they’re in perfect health, even if they’re sitting in the shade, even if they’re wearing clothes that make it easy in principle to sweat, even if they have an endless supply of water…If there’s enough moisture in the air, it’s thermodynamically impossible to prevent the body from overheating.”
Conclusions from his research indicate that the best place to be in these conditions is not outside, but indoors with air conditioning to prevent overheating, and consequently, death.
Up until 40 years ago, wet-bulb conditions were extremely rare. But now they’re happening year after year, more frequently, and in different areas of the world at the same time.
These conditions are only projected to get worse as they may last weeks in the future, specifically in the southern US, on a yearly basis.
This means that quarantining in a temperature-controlled building will have to be a requirement to prevent spontaneous deaths from occurring.
Inevitably, this will cause a mass migration as people cannot live in such inhabitable conditions, so this may even cause one of the biggest global refugee crises of history within the Global South.
These conditions have bumped air conditioning from a commodity to a necessity, since as a result of these conditions, which are mostly man-made, along with the entire climate crisis as a whole, those who don’t have an air conditioner may die.
The conditions that traveled with the heat wave caused tragedy in British Columbia as according to CBC Canada, over the course of B.C.’s heat dome, 719 people died suddenly — triple the number of deaths that would normally occur in the province during a one-week period.
What’s more terrifying is that most of these deaths were older people living alone, waiting hours as the ambulance services were overwhelmed.
This event shortly lead to an increase in sales of air conditioners as people now saw them as a necessity for living.
If a heatwave comes in your area, stay inside a building with air conditioning, and stay safe, especially for this summer and the summers to come.
