Meteorologist exposes scam of ‘heat index’ as ‘sensationalist garbage’ – Relies on ‘numerous assumpt

[rangerrebew]

Meteorologist exposes scam of ‘heat index’ as ‘sensationalist garbage’ – Relies on ‘numerous assumptions: You are 5 ft. 7 in. tall and weighs 147 pounds. Your body is 84% covered in clothing (long trousers & a short-sleeved shirt)’
By Marc Morano
July 30, 2025
 
Meteorologist Chris Martz:

I have noticed increased emphasis on “heat index” in TV weather reporting.

I’m honestly getting tired of it, as “heat index” has become the focal point of sensationalist garbage in legacy media and on social media.

It’s not a measurable quantity and it has little scientific value. Its calculation relies on numerous assumptions:

You are 5 ft. 7 in. tall and weigh 147 pounds.

Your body is 84% covered in clothing (long trousers and a short-sleeved shirt), and those clothes are 20% fiber.

https://www.climatedepot.com/2025/07/30/meterolilst-exposes-scam-of-heat-index-as-sensationalist-garbage-relies-on-numerous-assumptions-you-are-5-ft-7-in-tall-and-weigh-147-pounds-your-body-is-84-covered-in-clothing-long-tr/

[Bigun]

I have noticed increased emphasis on “heat index” in TV weather reporting.

I’m honestly getting tired of it, as “heat index” has become the focal point of sensationalist garbage in legacy media and on social media.

It’s not a measurable quantity and it has little scientific value.

  It's the same with a lot of what the media does these days and I pay no mind to any of it.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

We now have regular "heat watch/warning" when the temperature doesn't get over 90 degrees F, which to me is... excessive. Heat index perhaps isn't defined right, but frankly 99 degrees will feel way different in Florida vs. in Arizona, as we all know. In theory it's a useful measure.

[rustynail]

Same with 'wind chill'?

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

It's the same with a lot of what the media does these days and I pay no mind to any of it.

Sadly NOAA is doing it too. Not just the media.

[roamer_1]

We now have regular "heat watch/warning" when the temperature doesn't get over 90 degrees F, which to me is... excessive. Heat index perhaps isn't defined right, but frankly 99 degrees will feel way different in Florida vs. in Arizona, as we all know. In theory it's a useful measure.

I reckon not... I get it. Humidity affects temperature - But the inverse  is true too - Have you ever been in direct sun at elevation? Way hotter if you have to stay in it. and you'll fry way quicker. Thankfully humidity is low at elevation, so shade works.

So it's all subjective. Too subjective to really calculate. I think it's just for headlines, and to change the median in order to force and prove 'climate change'. Folks in our time, yours and mine, when most folks didn't have air conditioning, minded temperature and humidity and acted accordingly. It ain't hard.

[Bigun]

I reckon not... I get it. Humidity affects temperature - But the inverse  is true too - Have you ever been in direct sun at elevation? Way hotter if you have to stay in it. and you'll fry way quicker. Thankfully humidity is low at elevation, so shade works.

So it's all subjective. Too subjective to really calculate. I think it's just for headlines, and to change the median in order to force and prove 'climate change'. Folks in our time, yours and mine, when most folks didn't have air conditioning, minded temperature and humidity and acted accordingly. It ain't hard.

Sensationalize everything.

[berdie]

Also add in age. The heat had no affect on me when I was a kid. As I've aged....it is a factor. The same with cold.

[Polly Ticks]

@jmyrlefuller
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.

[Smokin Joe]

It's the same with a lot of what the media does these days and I pay no mind to any of it.

[Smokin Joe]

I reckon not... I get it. Humidity affects temperature - But the inverse  is true too - Have you ever been in direct sun at elevation? Way hotter if you have to stay in it. and you'll fry way quicker. Thankfully humidity is low at elevation, so shade works.

So it's all subjective. Too subjective to really calculate. I think it's just for headlines, and to change the median in order to force and prove 'climate change'. Folks in our time, yours and mine, when most folks didn't have air conditioning, minded temperature and humidity and acted accordingly. It ain't hard.

Yeah, but at 7,000 ft., you only have 77% of the atmosphere above you to stop the sun's radiation: at 9,000 ft., that's down to 70%.  Worst sunburn I ever got was at 7,500 ft., and it only took a three to four hours. Nothing like it at Sea Level where I spent my youth playing, or through my teens, almost all below 3,000 ft.

The atmosphere gets less dense with altitude (because it doesn't have all the atmosphere below you piled on it, so the pressure is less).

I think relevance means funding, and there is a mad scramble to stay in the forefront.

[cato potatoe]

A human body's ability to cool itself on a warm day is more efficient in a dry environment.  Heat index is not a scam, it's just an attempt to quantify the effect of humidity on people, given a list of assumptions.  Wind chill is similar, although the north american model does not take humidity into consideration.

[jmyrlefuller]

@jmyrlefuller
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.

I like Martz. He's a straight shooter, a natural skeptic, and backs up everything he says with why he's skeptical.

I've never been a fan of using approximation indexes like the heat index/humidex or the wind chill as the headline: use the temperature, then the "feels like" as a comparison. Heat index, like wind chill, only factors in two elements: temperature and humidity. Humidity, mind you, is important, especially at night. But without factoring in wind and solar radiation (the latter of which isn't a standard part of the ASOS/AWOS reporting protocol), it's badly incomplete. Plus, as Martz said, the radiation effects vary widely on what you're wearing and the sun's angle. With a nice breeze, or a well-positioned fan, conditions can go from muggy to comfortable very quickly. Wear black, and a sunny afternoon becomes oppressive quickly.

The sensationalists like things like heat index/wind chill because records typically aren't kept for them. So you have a hot, muggy day, and put out a heat index number, and it looks higher than high temperatures that have been recorded, and you've planted in people's minds "global warming."

There is a measure called the "wet bulb globe temperature" that factors in temperature, humidity and radiation, but the scale doesn't match up well to air temperature. (It's based upon the wet-bulb temperature, which, roundabout, is close to halfway between the air temperature and the dew point.)

---

In short: it's handy and useful, but not all that precise and very much incomplete. Martz is 100% correct.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

From personal experience, the sun shining makes a humongous difference, which is hardly surprising.

[jmyrlefuller]

From personal experience, the sun shining makes a humongous difference, which is hardly surprising.

About 15 degrees (Fahrenheit) difference, to be exact.

[roamer_1]

The atmosphere gets less dense with altitude (because it doesn't have all the atmosphere below you piled on it, so the pressure is less).

Yep... Rule of thumb, if you're having trouble breathing, getting out of breath, then you'd better cover up, because you are out of your zone... Now, that's prolly gonna happen quicker for you than for me ==I am already acclimatized to say 3000 ft, so I am pretty alright till over the treeline. You might be frying right here on the valley floor...

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

About 15 degrees (Fahrenheit) difference, to be exact.

I'm sure. My car tells me the outside temperature. So I've driven to work when it's 85 degrees out and the sun is shining and when it's 85 degrees out and overcast/cloudy. For the former I have found I require the AC way more. 85 at night, while miserably hot, actually doesn't feel that bad than when it's sunny out.

[Polly Ticks]

About 15 degrees (Fahrenheit) difference, to be exact.

Interesting.  Now I feel better about the nerdy sun umbrella I use on the sidelines when I'm playing in the tennis tournaments.

[cato potatoe]

About 15 degrees (Fahrenheit) difference, to be exact.

Is it more if you’re black?

[Smokin Joe]

From personal experience, the sun shining makes a humongous difference, which is hardly surprising.

Well the hottest weather I have been in was in Nevada: 122 in the shade (unofficial, but brutally hot, and worse in the sun, even though it was a 'dry heat'.) Most oppressive was 111 in the shade (also unofficial, Southern Maryland), 99% humidity, when I was building seawalls. We were in full sunlight, and getting it reflected off the water as well. The only way to cool off was to jump overboard.

[Smokin Joe]

Yep... Rule of thumb, if you're having trouble breathing, getting out of breath, then you'd better cover up, because you are out of your zone... Now, that's prolly gonna happen quicker for you than for me ==I am already acclimatized to say 3000 ft, so I am pretty alright till over the treeline. You might be frying right here on the valley floor...

Actually, the glaciers may have flattened things out, but I'm generally between 1800 and 2300 ft. altitude these days. I have worked as high as just under 9,000 ft. (Wyoming) and 7,000 wasn't unusual.  On the well where ground level was just under 9,000 ft. you went through 9,000 on the way up to the rig floor. It was a Parker rig with a high substructure, so the kelly elevation was just above 9,000. That took a couple of weeks to acclimate to, and when I got back home I wasn't out of breath working hard for a couple of months (High altitude 'blood packing').

[roamer_1]

Actually, the glaciers may have flattened things out, but I'm generally between 1800 and 2300 ft. altitude these days. I have worked as high as just under 9,000 ft. (Wyoming) and 7,000 wasn't unusual.  On the well where ground level was just under 9,000 ft. you went through 9,000 on the way up to the rig floor. It was a Parker rig with a high substructure, so the kelly elevation was just above 9,000. That took a couple of weeks to acclimate to, and when I got back home I wasn't out of breath working hard for a couple of months (High altitude 'blood packing').

Right. I was just saying that my acclimatization tends to 'run out' around the treeline here. When I get up in the bristlecones, I am feeling it... And above the trees, I have to work at it.

But my point is that your skin also acclimatizes. Folks that live up high don't tend to burn as easy - My kin comes up here, and they all invariably fry - Doesn't matter if they are coming from Kansas and Missouri, or the Great Lakes... Doesn't matter if they come up in August with a full tan - They ALL fry. Sun exposure is a different thing with altitude. There is a correlation there. I don't know if it is because it is more arid, or the closer-to-the-sun thing, or the angle of things farther north... Dunno. But it's a thing.

My cuz, OTOH, is a Colorado boy. Coming up here, he is actually coming downhill - He lives above or around 4000. He is utterly unaffected. Just fine.

Go figger. I think it is altitude, and a rarer air making the sun hotter and the burn more likely to those not acclimatized.