Heat And Humidity

WASHINGTON -- It's not just the heat, it's the humidity that's likely to cause much of the pain of global warming, meteorologists are realizing.Across a swath of the United States, the heat index, a measure of discomfort that takes into account heat and humidity, is expected to soar over the next 50 to 60 years, forecasters predict in the federal government's first study to take increased humidity into account.That could increase the yearly average number of heat-related deaths nationwide, now 1,200, to several thousand, one expert said.

Heat and humidity are once again rolling across the mid-Atlantic states, causing another round of urban heat advisories and Code Red ozone alerts in Maryland today and worsening a drought already considered the second-worst in state history.Yesterday's high of 96 degrees at Baltimore-Washington International Airport was not a record, but weather forecasters expect more of the same, with highs reaching at least 90 degrees until the end of the week.Forecasters are worried about drought, not the heat.

Art lovers apparently were oblivious to the muggy conditions that accompanied Artscape this weekend, turning out in numbers that are likely to top the record of 1.5 million people who attended last summer."

A woman who has just moved here from Albuquerque called the National Weather Service yesterday wondering why it feels hotter here at 98 than in New Mexico when it's 120.She obviously doesn't know humidity as Marylanders know humidity.It may be our most productive summer crop. Bigger than Silver Queen corn, steamed male crabs and black-eyed Susans.And don't expect pleasant days soon. Today, tomorrow and next week, temperatures are expected to bump well into the 90s, and the air likely will be unhealthful.

Only the thousands of people who know Mack Lewis, most of whom he has trained in the manly art of self-defense in his gym over on Broadway, knew what Vincent Pettway was talking about the other night on television after he won a world title from Italy's Gianfranco Rosi.Pettway, now 37-4 with 30 knockouts, pummeled the former International Boxing Federation junior middleweight titleholder before putting him down for good at the end of the fourth round. Ecstatic with his success after some trying times in his decade-long pro career, Pettway admitted, "I'm more happy for Mr. Mack.

It's payback time at area schools for those deep-freeze days )) of ice and snow -- and the price is heat and humidity.Many students and teachers whose school systems extended sessions further into June to make up for cold-weather closings will be laboring this week in 90-degree-plus temperatures, thanks to a late-spring heat wave.In Harford County, where classes originally were scheduled to end last week, schools were dismissed two hours early yesterday because of heat.The irony was not lost on Claire Parker, an art teacher at Bel Air Middle School.

A "cold front" -- that's what the National Weather Service called it -- crossed Maryland yesterday, but did not spare Baltimore City its fifth straight day of triple-digit heat.According to National Weather Service forecasters, the front lowered the humidity and the "misery index," and offered a hint that the scorch siege will begin to break up this week. The stubborn Bermuda high that pumped in the heat and humidity should be gone by Friday.In the meantime, area hospital emergency rooms kept busy treating patients for heat-related problems.

The stubborn heat and humidity may loosen its grip on the area this week.A "cold front" -- that's what the National Weather Service called it -- crossed Maryland yesterday, but it did not spare Baltimore's downtown its fifth straight day of triple-digit heat.According to National Weather Service forecasters, the front lowered the humidity and the "misery index," and offered a hint that the scorch siege will begin to break up this week. The stubborn Bermuda high that pumped in the heat and humidity should be gone by Friday.

Have you ever stashed crayons in the glove compartment of the car in the summer? When you pull them out later in the trip, all that's left is a sticky, gooey mess.If you left Preparation H suppositories on the front seat on a hot day, the same thing would happen. After all, they're designed to melt at body temperature. The temperature in a car can quickly top 100 degrees.Most medicine isn't like suppositories. If you take it out of the car when you get home from an hour or two of running errands, you probably won't see any difference.

Find a patch of shade. Change the air-conditioner filter. Hunt for a sea breeze, and don't let it get away. Summer's hottest temperatures have settled over Maryland, and forecasts say they won't be leaving soon.While the temperatures have not reached record highs, they are high enough to prompt warnings by health experts and -- combined with oppressive humidity -- the declaration of an "excessive heat alert" by the National Weather Service.An alert is issued when the "heat index" -- how hot it "feels" -- reaches 105 degrees or higher for at least a two-day period, according to Amet Figueroa, a forecaster for the Weather Service office at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Corine Schramke isn't complaining. The Baltimore area has not experienced much extreme summer weather thus far, so the Ellicott City resident has enjoyed more time on her deck. Her utility bills are lower, too. "In the late afternoon and evening, I throw open all the windows and get the fresh air in, and it's been wonderful," said Schramke, who works from home. "This is an enormously pleasant surprise this year." Temperatures at the weather station at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport didn't climb above 90 degrees at all in May or June, according to National Weather Service data, defying the area's reputation for sweltering summer heat and humidity.

Jeff Ehmsen moved to Baltimore from Southern California. "We pretty much never get thunderstorms there," he says. Since landing in Mobtown, he's "come to appreciate them as part of the seasonal cycles, but wondered what explains them." I love T-storms, too. Their beauty and drama are fueled by our heat and humidity. Moist air, buoyed by solar heating or clashing fronts, rises through colder air. The updrafts generate electric fields, lightning and thunder. Cooling aloft condenses water vapor, which falls as rain and hail.

Jeff Ehmsen moved to Baltimore from Southern California. "We pretty much never get thunderstorms there," he says. Since landing in Mobtown he's "come to appreciate them as part of the seasonal cycles, but wondered what explains them." I love T-storms, too. Their beauty and drama is fueled by our heat and humidity. Moist air buoyed by solar heating or clashing fronts rises through colder air. The updrafts generate electric fields, lightning and thunder. Cooling aloft condenses water vapor, which falls as rain and hail.

First, the offense took a vacation for most of the day against Virginia. The next week, the defense fell apart in the heat and humidity on a shocking afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C. Then came a rough third-quarter stretch against Duke, on a day it failed to control two of the top scorers in the game. The reasons behind its growing frustration vary, but one thing is clear. Four weeks after it blew out Syracuse on the road with its most complete effort of the spring, the 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team is scrambling to stave off the unimaginable at Homewood.

When it comes to hot weather, the human body acts remarkably like a home's central air conditioning - complete with a thermostat and cooling mechanism. But extreme conditions can overwhelm that system - resulting in heat exhaustion, heat stroke and death. "You get hot and the mechanisms you use to regulate that heat go haywire," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner, who declared a Code Red heat alert yesterday. To avoid heat-related illness, experts recommend drinking plenty of fluids, finding a cool place indoors and avoiding overexertion.

Did you know?-- The heat index is the temperature the body feels when heat and humidity are combined. - The Weather Channel

Those two "H's" - heat and humidity - that conspire to make Baltimore summers so very special could soon be joined by a cousin: hurricane. A not-so-holy trinity, most everyone would agree, is upon us. The temperature soared yesterday afternoon to 93 and the humidity reached a sticky 94 percent, conspiring for a heat index of 103. Today and tomorrow look like repeats of yesterday, with chances of thunderstorms and showers. Also, air quality was predicted to be unhealthy over the weekend for those with respiratory illnesses, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.

AND SO it begins again, the age-old struggle, the eternal battle of wills, the epic clash between testosterone and estrogen that plays out at the thermostat every day. Oh, I've written about this before - not that it's done any good. The basic problem is this: I like the house cold. My wife likes it to feel like Fallujah in July. So all summer long, we sneak back and forth to the thermostat to further our own shabby little agendas. I turn the air-conditioning down so the house is nice and cool.

Pro boxer Jermain Taylor gets up earlier. Anesthesiologist Philip Zwiebel swaps marathons for triathlons and Ultimate Frisbee devotee Lois Gramley isn't above dousing herself or pals with ice water on the playing field. Beating the heat smartly. It's critical during these summer months, when working out in the heat and humidity can take a serious toll on your health. Indeed, more people in the United States died from extreme heat than from hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes combined during a 20-year period ending in 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

As temperatures eased yesterday into the bearable low 90s, the state medical examiner said that Thursday's 100-degree heat contributed to the deaths of four elderly people in metropolitan Baltimore. The deaths brought to 10 the number of people who have died of heat-related causes since sultry weather descended on the area two weeks ago. Last year, 15 people in Maryland succumbed to the heat. Three of the Independence Day victims died in their sweltering homes in Baltimore. "They were found in their homes without air conditioning, where the interior temperatures ranged from 85 to 95 degrees," said Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the city health commissioner.