Death Valley heat record may be invalidated

Odd.

The Rh gets very low - the 6% reading from 1913 seems kind of high to me. With the Rh that low, it does not feel as hot as it truly is, but things dry out unbelievably fast. The very low Rh seems to be one of the most noticeable things. My evaporative cooler could keep my apartment somewhat comfortable even if it was 120 degrees out. I also had an air conditioner but didn't need it unless I wanted quiet (the evap cooler was loud).

If one was in an air-conditioned building and stepped outside into heat like that, one would get goosebumps for a few moments, I think from the moisture in one's skin evaporating off quickly. If a person focused on maintaining hydration and electrolyte balance, and wore the right sort of clothing, a person could be surprisingly active in temps up to about 115 F. I could run a 5k in temps like that, it I planned and hydrated in advance, midway through, and could actively cool down afterwards (stand in front of blasting AC with an icepack on my head).

I would hang up my laundry to dry. Take a pair of socks out of the basket, put them on the line. Keep adding things from the basket. Once done, take the first pair of socks off the line and keep removing things in the order that they were put on the line. That worked for most lighter fabrics, but denim pants and other heavy fabrics might require as much as 15 minutes on the line to dry.

It looks different on the really hot days, smells different, and even sounds different - it seemed quieter to me above 120.

I grew up in fairly dry places, I would take a very dry 120 over a humid 95 any day.

Very cold temperatures do a similar thing -- things sound differently, behave differently and sometimes smell differently or not at all.

As to the point of the OP, that the record temperature in Death Valley was an outlier for the reasons given in the OP link (meteorological, non consensus with nearby readings, observation error) seams plausible enough to raise substantial doubt.
 
I used to ride my bike quite frequently in the summer when the temperatures were not uncommonly 110-115. I never really had a problem as long as I kept myself hydrated. I have a Camelback backpack with 1.5 liters of water; I would put the water in the freezer for about an hour before going out so that it was nice and cold.

Don't do it much any more, but that's mostly concern over the other effects of the sun, not heat.
 

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