An informative piece from Bloomberg, accessed via today’s Taipei Times, explains why such temperatures are Bad News for human beings and other forms of life on earth.
This article mentions the deaths of a young family and their dog during a hiking excursion in California:
Whether a given temperature can kill depends on humidity, wind velocity and direct exposure to sunlight, as well as a person’s level of exertion, body size and clothing. Temperatures reached 48°C where a man and his young stepson died hiking last month in Texas, but it was just 41°C when a young couple, their baby daughter, and the family dog all died in 2021 while hiking in California.
That California case was chronicled in the book The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell. The young parents had brought what seemed like ample water. When they set out, the temperature was only in the 20s. They had planned to be home before the worst heat set in.
However, the hike started downhill. Getting back to their car required a 701m climb up a slope in direct sunlight. They never made it.
This case reminded me of the recent death of a man in Xinbei who attempted to hike as part of a group in the Ruifang district back on that Saturday when temperatures hit 38 degrees in the Taipei City basin. I am convinced that his body simply got overloaded from the heat, leading to his death. If forumosans are interested, this case was discussed here:
Guy