Discussion: heat
in: blairtrewin; blairtrewin > 2014-01-15
Jan 16, 2014 8:13 AM
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asha:
Good job by the way. Just wondering if you knew what temperature it would have got to in the sun in Melbourne today? Because just standing in the sun hurt :/
Jan 16, 2014 11:56 AM
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The answer to that question depends on what the question is. 'Temperature in the sun' is a fairly meaningless concept. What you really want to know is - what temperature with no sun would produce the same level of (dis)comfort as the current conditions in the sun?
A thermometer in the sun won't answer that question because it directly absorbs the solar radiation - there used to be measurements done of the "solar maximum" in Adelaide in the early 1900s and there were numerous cases of readings in the 70s. The best estimate we have is that full midday sun increases the "apparent temperature" by about 8 degrees, so 43 degrees in full midday sun would feel like 51 degrees with no sun (of course, 51 degrees with no sun never actually happens in the real world, but you get the idea).
It was certainly a day when I wasn't too upset about the fact that work was so busy that I never got the chance to go outside between 8.30am and 7pm, even if I'd wanted to.
A thermometer in the sun won't answer that question because it directly absorbs the solar radiation - there used to be measurements done of the "solar maximum" in Adelaide in the early 1900s and there were numerous cases of readings in the 70s. The best estimate we have is that full midday sun increases the "apparent temperature" by about 8 degrees, so 43 degrees in full midday sun would feel like 51 degrees with no sun (of course, 51 degrees with no sun never actually happens in the real world, but you get the idea).
It was certainly a day when I wasn't too upset about the fact that work was so busy that I never got the chance to go outside between 8.30am and 7pm, even if I'd wanted to.
This discussion thread is closed.