Doctors warn there are biological limits to temperatures we can survive, and exposure to extreme heat can provoke a heart attack

Australia’s southern states are scorching in extreme heat that could break temperature records in Victoria and South Australia on Tuesday.

At Ouyen and Mildura in north-west Victoria, temperatures of 49C were forecast for Tuesday afternoon. If reached, they would break the state’s all-time temperature record of 48.8C, set in Hopetoun on Black Saturday in 2009. By 1pm, temperatures of 46.2C in Ouyen and 44.8C in Mildura had been recorded.

At Ouyen and Mildura in north-west Victoria, temperatures of 49C were forecast for Tuesday afternoon. If reached, they would break the state’s all-time temperature record of 48.8C, set in Hopetoun on Black Saturday in 2009. By 1pm, temperatures of 46.2C in Ouyen and 44.8C in Mildura had been recorded.

In Adelaide, the mercury hit 40C before 9.30am on Tuesday, after overnight lows of 35C, BoM observations showed.

Extreme heat is the most common cause of weather-related hospitalisations in Australia, and kills more people than all other natural hazards combined. What does exposure to extreme heat – such as a temperature of 49C – do to the body?

  • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    where’s this “freezing water” you can stick your thermometer into, that’s reliably == 0 degrees? Ice keeps getting colder, and melted water can be any temperature above 0.

    A substance undergoing phase change will hold its temperature until the change is complete. That means that once water starts freezing, it will be 0°C until it is all ice. Same goes for ice thawing. Yes only pure H2O will freeze at exactly 0°, but unless you deliberately put some shit in it it will be very, very, very close. Boiling is a bit more sensitive, but still a lot less than the natural variance between body temperatures in normal conditions.

    You’re taking the procedure literally, but it was just to get a point across. Also, using the freezing and water boiling points of water was used to define Fahrenheit too for most of the 20th century.

    • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      02·
      18 hours ago

      Well, that last point suggests that you don’t need the Celsius scale to use water’s phase changes as a reference / definition. Which undermines your entire case for Celsius being superior because it’s based on that.

      All I’m saying is that F has some human usability merit in that the scale just happens to corresponds nicely to a human quality. Since any scale can use physical qualities as a definition, why shouldn’t we use one that’s more human-centric.

      • T00l_shed@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        16 hours ago

        From my side, it doesn’t because what the fuck is 40 f? I have no clue. The human merit you’re referring to is all due to what you have been taught