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Most of our Scouts will leave the relative comfort of an air-conditioned house for a week in the out doors. Keeping cool can be a monumental challenge, or a physical impossibility.
We perspire to dissipate heat through evaporation. Increased humidity (more moisture in the air) decreases the rate of evaporation and our ability to keep cool.
R. G. Steadman’s 1979 paper titled “The Assessment of Sultriness,” factors 20 different variables to describe how heat feels. Steadman considers clothing, body size, level of activity, air temperature, humidity, and dew point to name a few.
A simplified formula using air temperature and humidity determines the ‘heat index’ broadcast in most weather reports;
As our ability to keep cool decreases the danger of heat related injuries increase. Simple precautions will prevent heat related injuries;
- Drink plenty of water. Avoid caffeine because it promotes dehydration. Use sports drinks and supplements to replace electrolytes lost through perspiration.
- Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing.
- Sunburn decreases our ability to keep cool. Use sunscreen, wear a hat and stay out of the sun.
- Take it slow. Adjust the pace of activities to the weather.
- Avoid the hottest part of the day, late afternoon, and plan strenuous activities for early morning and evening.
The real question is, what is the Solar Index?
Our May campout was supposed to be a canoe trip but low water and a fleet of kayaks at an alternate site precluded that. So we went to Buck Lake. Buck Lake is on the Buck Lake property, but it’s 5 miles from our campsite and it’s basically a big mud hole full of gators. No cooling off in there!
It was a dry, but warm and humid day on Saturday. Probably around 90 degrees. Around 1:00pm everything slowly came to a halt. Everyone that was not fully reclined and asleep were sitting up in chairs with their heads nodding to and fro 🙂 Basically we went into siesta mode for about two hours.
Now I know that some Scouting leaders would pitch a fit watching 25 people fade off into a catatonic state for several hours. Oh well. Too bad. That’s what we did and it was an excellent day. The Scouts spent the morning finishing up some advancements so that most of our Scouts are now at First Class and they were able to attend summer camp as First Class Scouts. Somewhere around three or four in the afternoon folks started coming back to life and dinner preparations began. The patrols had great dinners, campfire and a bit of manhunt, thought the mosquitoes encouraged the Scouts to finish manhunt early.
I highly recommend precautions 4 and 5 above and regular siestas on campouts. I also recommend precaution 3. Sunscreen is good but lots of shade is better. Cooler too.