Technical Question For You Southern Folks

Hey all folks living in the hottest most humid parts.
This could be northern people too.
Okay so In near Winnipeg Canada, directly north of Dallas Texas or Kansas City in the province of Manitoba.
For days its been near 90 every day, humidity factor near 100.
I cannot seem to get much old truck done. In.a sweatin away.
My shop is well insulated but no A.C....lol
How do you guys handle this for months At a time?
We usually get 3 to 4 weeks of it.
Every winter we get 2 to 3 weeks of 30 below with wind chills over -40 at times.
Stay Kool.....

 

I am in Southern Michigan. Does that count ? I recommend vast quantities of Labatt Blue.

 

Ole Blue, yup 1 of our Beers. All kinds here now including most American brands.
Michigan is good and humid, lake effect

 

They will tell you that it is a different sort of heat. From the 8 years I lived in Central Texas I'd say that you just get used to it because it lasts so much longer than it does up north.

Maybe because I was 50 years younger when I lived there too though. The heat never used to bother me and now that I am 73 it bothers me a lot but part of that might be that I am not forced to be out working in it anymore . I can work in it if I want to but I don't normally have to.

 

I'm in almost the opposite corner of Missouri from KC (Southeast Missouri), but it gets plenty hot and humid here too. I'm pretty active and yes I do sweat my fair share, but given the option, I would take hot and humid over cold ANY. OLD. DAY. At least with the heat I can take a break if necessary and sit in the shade and cool off a bit. In the Winter (which is ironically my last name) the area around my fingernails crack open and get quite painful. I've used gloves of all sort, but still cracked, painful fingertips.

I've always considered anything North of I-70, which runs across the USA through Indy, St. Louis, KC, Denver, etc., to be uninhabitable.

Lynn

 

Sort of like Virginia. Heat and humidity almost equal in the summertime. You just deal with it or get out.

 

I guess you don't get use to it, its just part of life....

 

Its normal down here.If you are born into it and deal with it year after year, its not so bad. You just get used to it. I don't even turn on my house AC until its in the mid 90s. What is beyond my comprehension is how you people up north can deal with freezing weather most of the year. It gets down to 40F here and I am shivering all the time and can't get warm until June or July.
People acclimate to the places they live...or they move.

 

I was born and raised in the south and have lived here most of my 64 years (except for 7 years going to college and grad school) and I can't take the cold. Winters in Nebraska and St. Louis were no fun. I guess it's just what you're used to. I have a friend born and raised in Wisconsin who lived in Arkansas for a number of years, was transferred back to Wisconsin and said he could no longer take the cold winters. He moved back to Arkansas and then to Florida.
Also, ice tea, cold lemonade and ice cold beer seem to help a lot in the summer!

 

In Minnesota we have the same weather as you do more or less. We have spring and fall ( winter also if you have heat in the garage) to get most of the work done, summertime it’s mornings or a cool day here and there. It makes it hard to plan painting projects

 

Oh I hear yah on winter versus summer temps.
It can be down right brutal here in winter, even a bit colder than Fargo ND and much colder than Minneapolis too.
Winnipeg is the coldest big city in Canada and prolly one of the coldest cities in the world, yet near 1 million people live in the greater Winnipeg area.....lol
Yup cracked and dried out skin.
I still made some tin covers for open spots on removable floor pan in my 55 Fargo today and did it outside, yes Im drenched with sweat, but my arthritic hands did not give out...

 

Timing is the answer..... that and A/c! Working outside when hot.....you know shade tree mechanics! Lol. If I have a big job, I get up at daylight, it’s the coolest then and work till it gets hot, then switch to a job I can do in an A/C room. Also there a cooling down period in the evening, some days. I have been known to sleep all day and start work at 10 pm and work all night! Also pick your days to work outside. Thst’s how I survive in Oklahoma!






Bones

 

Here’s how I worked on my brothers truck recently: a/c and a car cover to tarp the work area. It was damn near cold!

 

I consider anything north of I-10 to be uninhabitable.

 

Work in the shade if you can... Big shop fan helps along with a lot of cold drinks...

 

South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama gets hotter than a 4 balled tom cat, most of us older guys grew up without air conditioning during the dog days of summer and a wood stove kept us warm in the winter.

When I built my new shop I insisted on heat & air and I have been able to get a lot more done during all the seasons.

I just looked at the thermometer, it's cooled off in the last hour or so, dropped to 91°. HRP

 

Down here we have fall, summer and spring. No real winters like up north. Some times we get all three seasons in one week.

Heat will take it's toll on you as you age. I have been here almost 50 years. Had a heat stroke a few years ago.... That pretty much ended any outdoor activity over 95 degrees for me.

 

It has cooled off here a bit in Oklahoma. It's only 93 here with a heat index of 100.

The humidity starts out at 85% in the mornings and then drops back to about 50% by midday. I try and work early as summer drags on. I wander in and out of the AC to cool off occasionally. It takes longer, but old fat guys need to take it easy. In August it will be 100-109 F and with a heat index of 110-115.

The older I get, the less I like it. I have big shop fans and ceiling fans, but it doesn't help much when it gets that hot. It's usually above 90 by May and doesn't drop below until the State Fair which is usually about Sept. 15ish.

 

I too had a heat stroke a couple of years ago at a car show, it scared the crap out of everyone around, luckily there was a nurse and a paramedic close by, I did a face first face plant in the asphalt.

They got me in the shade and I was out for a few minutes , I woke up to being covered with ice cold water, my pulse was week and within 15 minutes I was up walking around, this was on a Saturday and they urged me to go to the emergency but I had a doctors appointment on Monday so I went there.

I checked out OK but like you I can't take the heat like I use too. I just try to stay out of the direct sun. HRP

 

Its 91 here as I write humidex 100.
Cooled off in above ground pool.
House is cool with central A.C..
Shop is now warm.
I do a bunch in morning too before heat starts. Its still daylight here after 10 pm.this time a year..

 

Where our serious heat might be 4 to 6 weeks it ain't like months long.
So we get a taste but not real long duration. Sometimes August is hotter here too.

 

Sounds like you have it handled.

 

I try to get up early and get stuff done before early afternoon. Then head inside the hottest part of the day and pick back up at dusk. Luckily I have lots of mature trees and plenty of shade. Also I have a couple big fans in the garage to keep the air moving. I have a personal rule that I have to drink at least four bottles of water before I crack open a beer.

 

All I know is that I may not be doing it right even after living in the south for the last 40 years... This past Wednesday, I spent all day out in my shop when it was a little over 100. My wife told me to drink lots of water...which I didn’t do as well as I should have. I was putting together a short block for my pu and my hands stayed pretty oily through that process. Anyway, I did drink a couple gatoraids, but that’s about it. So, hoping I didn’t drop too much sweat into my motor.

Anyway, later that evening, my wife had received a new thermometer in the mail and decided to try it out. Turns out I had a 100 degree temperature and my wife was convinced I had Covid... Google ended up telling me that you actually can get a fever from heat and sweating too much. I may not have been far from overheating... Lesson learned.

 

You know better than that Hoss......you've lived here your whole life.

 

It's not the heat, it's the stupidity. I can deal with the heat, but humidity and heat kill me. Sweat getting in my eyes, on the inside of my glasses, etc. The fun gets sucked out of the project pretty quick. Work in the morning, then quit.

 

What Belair said. Work early in the morning then take a nap in the afternoon when the heat is bad. In 2003 - 2005 in Iraq it constantly hit 135 F but no humidity so you did not recognize you were sweating as it evaporated so fast. When you took off your 45 Lb IBA with the ceramic Bulletproof plates off and your shirt was soaked for about 3 minutes. Then as it dried it turned white with the salt. We drank a lot of bottled water. 3 to 4 bottles then a bottle of Gatoraid to replace the stuff we sweated out. Oh yea here today in WV, 96 F 82% humidity. I am done mowing and getting ready for a nap.

 

The coastal areas can be pretty brutal, 100F x 100% will suck the life out of you pretty quick. But the breezes off the Gulf help. We improved our situation a little by moving from Houston to Austin recently, but I can't wait for it to be dead still with the sun blazing down in August. We basically run from the air conditioned car to the air conditioned building.My new shop has a/c, so a quantum improvement over the last garage.
Strangely, in the winter, I am more miserable in the 40F and high humidity of Texas than I have ever been in Colorado or Edmonton at -20. The humidity just envelops you and sucks the heat out of your body.

 

91° today, heat index 100.
Having grown up in Florida, I thought that I could take it.
Moved from Florida to Memphis. Worse! Then moved to New Orleans. Even worse!
Then back to Memphis! Finally retired and over here. Even with working outside for 30 years and changing truck and earthmover tires, it's unbearable at times. It's that damn humidity!

I've been outside cleaning crap off a 40 frame and at 73 y.o. thought I was gonna fold. Just can't deal with it. Fortunately shop has A.C., unfortunately couldn't get the frame in.
Hurry up October.

 

Don't wanna get into a ..."you think THAT'S hot" discussion but there's a difference between upstate SC and lower state.....North Ga and South Ga.
Closer we get to Houston ( ) Texas .........the worse(worser if your from Alabama!) it gets in the summer.
Lord have mercy that place is 'hotter-than-the-hinges-to-the-gates-of-hell"! Ooops, I did it!
The trick to working in it???? DON'T!!!
J/K
Stay in the shade
Drink plenty of water
Take off maximum amount of clothes
Hunt a fan
Wait for October/November to do hot work (if possible)
6sally6