Dry vs. humid heat: Both can be dangerous

As scorching heat continues to blanket the country, how your body handles humid heat versus dry heat can be very different.

Transcript

00:00make no mistake it's hot outside and the summer sizzle is in full swing across the country

00:08florida and arizona both rank among the hottest states in the u.s but the way that heat feels

00:16and the way your body reacts isn't the same that moisture content in the atmosphere

00:22really leads to an extra toll on the body mainly because evaporation happens less when it's

00:29already humid our bodies are designed to sweat because evaporation leads to cooling our bodies

00:36run like a fine-tuned machine and it boils down to our bodies being able to run more efficiently

00:42in a dry heat versus a humid heat but dry heat poses its own risks you might feel cooler but the

00:50danger builds over time there are some contexts through which dry heat is every bit as dangerous

00:55for example if there is an enclosed space like a car the greenhouse effect within that car

01:02is going to be just as efficient with dry heat as with high humidity jeff says it's a lot like

01:08running a fever your body can start to struggle and if it can't cool down systems can begin to

01:14shut down by the time you reach for your bottled water your body might already be showing signs of

01:20water your body if you wait to crack this open until after you're thirsty you're already dehydrated

01:25in both types of heat hydrate early rest often and take breaks from the sun because even though

01:32they feel different both can overwhelm the body and fast for acuweather i'm leslie hudson reporting

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