Too Much Heat to Beat
By Nona Morris
@nonersays (3329)
United States
July 1, 2012 9:26pm CST
When I got home from work today it was 81 degrees in the house. And that was WITH the AC running. I'm not liking this heat wave, and I'm feeling horrible for the people who don't have an AC or cant even afford to run it the little bit that we can afford to run ours.
I remember summer nights at my dads house, and we did not have AC at all. Not even a window unit. Fans seemed to work to keep us cool.
I wonder if it was cooler back then, or if I just am more sensitive to heat now as an adult. Or, is it cooler in the countryside than it is in the city where I live now.
I think it might be cooler out in the country, where there is less brick, pavement and asphalt everywhere to soak up the heat and hold it in.
What do you think?
3 responses
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
4 Jul 12
It probably was not cooler back then, that is, the hot summers went in cycles, just as they do now. On the other hand, you are on target about being out in the country is cooler. All the brick and pavement in the city acts as a storage unit for solar heat, and when the sun goes down the heat gets released back into the atmosphere. I am in a rural town, and I can tell the difference between my property and the next one, even, because I have shrubs surrounding my property and you can almost feel them exhaling cool air and moisture. You are also correct that as we get older or temperature regulation is not as good. If you have thyroid difficulties or other syndromes and disorders you may feel the heat worse, and possibly the cold worse as well. Also, back to the house your dad was in when you were younger it may have been built in a better way to take advantage of prevailing breezes or to block the sun. Roof overhangs built to be at about a 50 degree slope, windows that would catch the prevailing wind. Fewer windows on the south and west where the heat gain is the greatest in the summer.
@Shellyann36 (11385)
• United States
2 Jul 12
It is very hot here in NC. The temps have been in the 100's for the past 3 days. We are keeping our home cooler by a few simple things. I am hanging all of our clothes and not using the dryer. On really hot days I am actually hanging them in the house and this creates a sort of "swamp cooler" effect. The blinds/curtains are closed on all of the windows. I don't use the oven and try not to use the stove as well. Rooms that seem to be hotter than others are closed off, we shut the doors and put extra coverage over the windows. I think that it is cooler in the country than it is in the city. I also believe that time has effected how cool our environment is as well. The fact that we have so much more pollution and that things are far more crowded now than they use to be causes the heat index to rise. I feel so sorry for all of the people that are suffering from power outages and souring temps here on the East Coast.
