Hi there! Most of you are familiar with calculated indices such as “heat index” or “felt temperature”. However, there is one measure that is actually indicative of the danger zone concerning the combination of temperature and humidity, especially during heat waves: the wet bulb temperature (WBT).
Why I think this is relevant: The cooling mechanism of the human body relies on evaporation of water (sweat) into ambient air. That works well as long as the surrounding air can accept further water molecules and the wet bulb temperature measures exactly that effect: what is the lowest possible temperature that can be achieved by evaporative cooling of a thermometer in ambient air? In other words: what is the maximum cooling effect that a human body can produce using sweat (or by splashing oneself with water, wearing wet clothes, etc.)? This WBT is important, as starting from 28°C WBT people will start feeling unwell and once 35°C WBT is reached, prolonged exposure means severe risk of fatal heat stroke because the human body overheats and is unable to cool itself anymore.
That is why I propose implementing the wet bulb temperature as an indicator for AirGradient dashboards.
Further reading:
Nice explainer as a video:
Calculator:
https://wetbulb.1209k.com