Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to eyeball08,Wondergirly,bofh,johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva, for Donating to support the site

Farming is sooooooooo beastly.....

wildlife, gardening, environment, Rural living, Pets and Vets
colin
Lemon Slice
Posts: 663
Joined: December 10th, 2016, 7:16 pm
Has thanked: 24 times
Been thanked: 114 times

Re: Farming is sooooooooo beastly.....

#185616

Postby colin » December 8th, 2018, 4:00 pm

I should perhaps have pointed to the difference between a dry and a humid night. I've never experienced the world's hot deserts myself, but I've read that nights actually get cold in the dry air, as there is no water vapour to retain heat. Whereas August in central Italy - which I experienced for several years - gives you nighttime minima in the mid to high twenties due to high humidity retaining the heat. It's why Romans traditionally get out in August, either into the mountains or south to Sicily, where the fierce heat of day is balanced by cooler nights due to lower humidity.


it's more complex still, on clear nights heat from the ground escapes into the upper atmosphere then space , cloudy nights all other things being equal will be warmer than clear nights, however water conducts heat so wet clothes transfer body heat faster than dry clothes, one feels warmer in a dry cold wearing insulated clothing at -20c than at warmer but more humid temperatures either side of 0c. Water in the form of snow reflects heat back into space whereas dark coloured forests and land surfaces absorb heat. So the humidity in our clothing in winter makes us feel colder as it conducts heat away from the body, but humidity in summer makes us feel hotter because the system of sweat evaporation does not work so well at losing heat.

UncleEbenezer
The full Lemon
Posts: 10776
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 8:17 pm
Has thanked: 1468 times
Been thanked: 2989 times

Re: Farming is sooooooooo beastly.....

#185714

Postby UncleEbenezer » December 9th, 2018, 11:10 am

colin wrote:it's more complex still, on clear nights heat from the ground escapes into the upper atmosphere then space , cloudy nights all other things being equal will be warmer than clear nights, however water conducts heat so wet clothes transfer body heat faster than dry clothes, one feels warmer in a dry cold wearing insulated clothing at -20c than at warmer but more humid temperatures either side of 0c. Water in the form of snow reflects heat back into space whereas dark coloured forests and land surfaces absorb heat. So the humidity in our clothing in winter makes us feel colder as it conducts heat away from the body, but humidity in summer makes us feel hotter because the system of sweat evaporation does not work so well at losing heat.

That's what I said in the paragraph before the one you quote. And what Gengulphus was pointing out.

In a like-for-like comparison, a clear August night in central Italy is 20 degrees warmer than a night in the Sahara desert. That's objective temperatures as measured by instruments, not how cold or warm it feels which, as you say, is subject to many influences. It's also the difference between recent (i.e. December) nights in Blighty and a summer heat wave, and it's down to humidity, with water vapour keeping the heat in.


Return to “The Natural World”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests