Dangerous heat levels to continue through week

Stay hydrated and get plenty of rest to keep safe, meteorologist says

The heat and humidity in Union County reached dangerous levels Saturday, and local residents shouldn’t expect much relief as the week continues.

“A heat advisory will run through Sunday; we tend to only run those out for a couple of days. You still have highs in the upper 90s through the middle of next week, almost all the way through next week until Friday when you get a small chance for showers,” said Dennis Cavanaugh, a warning coordination meteorologist for the Little Rock National Weather Service office.

While temperatures were in the upper-90s Saturday, as they’re expected to be today and throughout the week, the humidity level was 58%, which Cavanaugh said is very high.

“That doesn’t sound very high, because when people step outside and it’s 94 degrees, they feel the air and they say ‘it’s got to be 90% humidity!’ That’s almost impossible, but 58% is super high for the air being 94, 95 degrees,” he said. “You’re coming in with a heat index of 109.”

Cavanaugh explained that heat indexes are determined with a formula developed based on the heat stress load that heat and humidity puts on a person’s body. While temperatures may remain under 100 degrees, high levels of humidity can still make being outside dangerous. Union County was under an Excessive Heat Warning Saturday, and Cavanaugh said it’s possible more will be put into effect if heat and humidity levels stay as high as they were.

He said being outdoors, and particularly working outside, without taking the proper precautions can be potentially deadly in these conditions.

“Our body’s natural cooling method is to sweat, then the sweat evaporates and that takes quite a bit of heat off your body. When it’s really humid, the sweat on your body doesn’t evaporate as much, so your body just keeps heating up. It’s almost like your body’s radiator is failing; there’s nothing to effectively remove the heat from your skin,” Cavanaugh said. “When you can’t release the heat from your body, it starts to build up your internal body temperature. When that gets too high, it’s just like running a fever from a sickness. If your internal body temperature climbs to 104, 105 degrees, even though you don’t have the flu or anything — well everybody knows how bad it feels when you have a fever.”

As the high heat indexes are expected to continue throughout the week, Cavanaugh urged those who live and work in Union County to stay safe by drinking plenty of water, adding a sports drink now and then to keep their electrolytes up and, for those who must work outside, taking plenty of breaks to cool off.

“Obviously your boss isn’t just going to let you sit there, but you’ve got to take frequent breaks. There are OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations that prevent abuse of workers during hot conditions. Take breaks, drink plenty of water, get into a cool area to let your body temperature cool off,” he said. “It is just very dangerous to be outside. I know plenty of people from south Arkansas, Louisiana that say they’re used to the heat, but you can’t really be immune; you’re still a human. Your body is going to process the heat just like any human.”

Cavanaugh said heat exhaustion and heat stroke are conditions that residents could experience if they aren’t careful outside.

“It will eventually begin to shut down your body’s functional processes. If you don’t get medical attention right away, the heat in your body could be enough to kill you,” he said. “Younger folks and the elderly are more susceptible, but they’re less likely to be employed and forced to be out in the heat.”

He recommended that those who can avoid working outside do so, or try to get their work done in the morning hours, before peak heating times are reached. Exercise or work can also be saved for the evening times, once the sun goes down, if one has a light by which to work, he said.

He also said it’s important to check the backseat of one’s vehicle before leaving it; a child or animal left in the vehicle could die quickly since cars are like greenhouses, with temperatures inside far higher than the outside temperatures.

“So if it’s 97 degrees outside, the temperature in your car will get to 135, 140. That will kill just about any person or any animal. It’s not safe to leave your kid or pet in your car for any amount of time in this heat,” Cavanaugh said. “You’ll genuinely be endangering the lives of children, elderly, animals, those who can’t easily get out of the vehicle by themselves. We don’t want to add to the child mortality rate when it’s as simple as checking the backseat of your car.”

While temperatures often surpass 100 degrees in western states like Arizona and New Mexico, the lack of vegetation helps keep the heat dry; here in the Natural State, the vegetation keeps humidity high throughout the summer.

“There’s so much foliage and groundwater, it keeps pumping out humidity into the air no matter how hot it gets,” he said.

Cavanaugh said a cold front is unlikely to come any time soon, so rain is the best chance there is to break the heat wave. There’s a small chance of thunderstorms this morning and there could be showers Friday, but otherwise, there wasn’t any precipitation in the local forecast on Saturday.

“The cloud cover will dissipate by Sunday afternoon. It will still get hot, and then there’s a dry forecast Monday through Thursday. The humidity isn’t going to change much,” he said. “The Shreveport office makes the decision to issue another heat advisory, but I could easily see y’all being under Heat Advisory or Excessive Heat Warning Monday through Thursday. If there’s a better chance of rain on Friday, that could provide relief, but if it’s just pop-up showers and thunderstorms, it might stay really hot.”

Cavanaugh said this type of weather is not uncommon in the summertime in south Arkansas.

“We’re going into a pattern that is traditionally hot without much rain chances, but it also remains pretty humid,” he said. “It usually happens every summer where we’re just stuck in a pattern where we’re very hot and humid. We don’t really get substantial cold fronts through the south almost until the fall.”