Sweatiest Cities

[Skywatch_NC]

Wonder where Raleigh ranks?

#34

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050615/law010.html?.v=12

Thank you, Cindy!

I see also where the city I grew up (Cincinnati) ranks at #61!

[sunny]

Wonder where Raleigh ranks?

#34

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050615/law010.html?.v=12

Thank you, Cindy!

I see also where the city I grew up (Cincinnati) ranks at #61!

You are welcome, wxbuddy!

lol - Mary - are you sweating up there

[senorpepr]

Here's a little something I just ran up. This is based off of the THSW Index which calculates a more accurate apparent temperature than heat index by including temperature, humidity, sun, and wind.

Basically, what I did was I researched the average July temperature (in F), vapor pressure (in inches of mercury), solar radiation (daily, in watts per meter squared), and wind (in knots). (Note: typically this formula would include a one-minute solar radiation reading rather than a daily reading, so the end result numbers are really high, but it works in comparing cities).

I then converted temperature to °C, vapor pressure to kPa, and winds to meters per second. I then applied the four numbers to this formula: apparent °C=-1.8+1.07T+2.4P-0.92v+0.044Q

T=ambient temp (°C)
P=vapor pressure (kPa)
v=wind (m/sec)
Q=solar radiation (W/m^2)

I used the same cities as above, but included Omaha, Nebraska. (I was interested)

Here are the results to the apparent hottest cities... (note... the rank is how the cities were listed above)

Code: Select all

                Rank    Temp    VPress  SolRad  Winds   THSW
Las Vegas       2       104     0.29    8400    11      766.0
Fresno          23      98      0.42    8400    8       764.0
Phoenix         1       106     0.48    8100    8       749.7
El Paso         20      95      0.45    7900    7       722.5
Waco            18      96      0.73    7800    10      717.2
Dallas          13      96      0.72    7800    10      717.0
San Antonio     11      94      0.74    7700    9       708.1
Tucson          3       100     0.46    7600    7       704.2
Austin          21      94      0.75    7500    8       693.3
Shreveport      25      92      0.8     7400    7       684.8
Omaha           N/A     88      0.65    7400    9       676.6
Savannah        24      91      0.81    6900    6       645.1
Corpus Christi  5       93      0.87    6900    11      643.9
Honolulu        12      87      0.67    7000    12      641.6
Houston         7       93      0.83    6700    7       630.8
Baton Rouge     17      91      0.82    6700    6       629.4
Montgomery      14      91      0.79    6700    6       629.0
Miami           4       89      0.85    6700    8       626.0
New Orleans     15      90      0.86    6600    5       621.9
West Palm Beach 6       89      0.85    6600    9       617.2
Fort Myers      10      92      0.85    6500    6       615.1
Charleston      22      86      0.66    6600    5       614.7
Mobile          16      90      0.81    6500    7       611.5
Jacksonville    19      92      0.82    6400    6       606.7
Orlando         9       91      0.84    6400    6       605.9
Tampa           8       90      0.84    6400    8       603.2

So from looking at these stats, I'm under the impression that although the humidity is high along the coast, the sea-breeze thunderstorms that occur on nearly a daily basis keep conditions much better than those locations in the desert and well inland. The cloud cover from those thunderstorms are helping to keep conditions from being as bad. Therefore, I think the above list has some merit.

[senorpepr]

ah hah.. here's how they ranked it...

“The rankings are based on the average U.S. male/female height/weight and the average high temperature for 2004 in each of the cities during June, July and August. The sweat level was analyzed based on the assumption that an individual was walking for one hour.”

[Aslkahuna]

Except that no one in their right mind would walk out in the open in LAS/PHX/TUS for 10 minutes let alone an hour during the high heat of the day. Arizona is where you learn that Asphalt has a liquid state, the seat belt buckle can become a branding iron and the choicest park spots at the Mall are those under trees and not necessarily the closest to the entrance.
BTW, if you walk for an hour during the high heat of the day in any of those top three cities without consuming at least a gallon of water, they will be bringing you to a hospital in an ambulance.

Steve

[senorpepr]

Here's another list of the hottest cities. This list removes the sun factor away. Essentially it takes compares the average July high temperature, the average July afternoon relative humidity, and the average July wind speed. What's listed are the resulting temperature, which is pretty much the heat index with wind involved.

Code: Select all

Phoenix Arizona          105.9
Las Vegas Nevada         102.8
Dallas Texas              99.5
Tucson Arizona            99.3
Austin Texas              98.6
San Antonio Texas         98.4
Shreveport Louisiana      97.7
Fresno California         97.5
Bakersfield California    97.5
Houston Texas             97.3
Baton Rouge Louisiana     97.0
Tulsa Oklahoma            96.7
Memphis Tennessee         96.5
New Orleans Louisiana     96.5
Montgomery Alabama        96.4
Corpus Christi Texas      95.8
El Paso Texas             95.7
Jacksonville Florida      95.7
Orlando Florida           95.7
Tampa Florida             94.9
Oklahoma City Oklahoma    94.9
Birmingham Alabama        94.7
Wichita Kansas            93.7
Nashville Tennessee       93.2
Stockton California       92.9
Miami Florida             92.8
St. Louis Missouri        92.4
Charlotte North Carolina  92.2
Lubbock Texas             92.2
Lincoln Nebraska          91.7
Sacramento California     91.4
Raleigh North Carolina    91.3
Atlanta Georgia           91.2
Kansas City Missouri      90.8
Albuquerque New Mexico    90.4
Greensboro North Carolina 90.1
Omaha Nebraska            90.0
Louisville Kentucky       89.9
Washington DC             89.8
Baltimore Maryland        88.8
Norfolk Virginia          88.1
Lexington Kentucky        88.1
Indianapolis Indiana      87.9
Newark New Jersey         87.7
Cincinnati Ohio           87.6
Philadelphia Pennsylvania 87.4
Denver Colorado           86.8
New York New York         86.7
Honolulu CDP Hawaii       86.1
Fort Wayne Indiana        85.8
Columbus Ohio             85.8
Colorado Springs Colorado 84.7
Chicago Illinois          84.6
Toledo Ohio               84.4
Minneapolis Minnesota     84.0
Detroit Michigan          83.6
Long Beach California     83.6
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania   83.3
Madison Wisconsin         83.1
Akron Ohio                83.1
Cleveland Ohio            82.8
Boston Massachusetts      80.8
Rochester New York        79.7
Milwaukee Wisconsin       79.5
Buffalo New York          78.8
Portland Oregon           78.6
San Diego California      76.6
Los Angeles California    75.4
Seattle Washington        71.7
San Francisco California  66.8