Science desk
< July 15	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 17 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 16[edit]

to every deer there is a season[edit]

In my town one often sees mule deer going about their errands. Today I saw a doe and fawn, hardly worth even a Tweet, but the fawn was much smaller than I expect at this time of year.

Could the fawn have been born a couple of months later than normal? Is that, as the young people say, a thing that happens? —Tamfang (talk) 06:25, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I live in a city and occasionally deer cross my garden, apparently they are trying to follow an old migration path in spite of modern roads and buildings. These skittish deer are clearly ill at ease, frightened by people and traffic. I have been warned never to pet a fawn no matter how sweet the little "Bambi" seems because the mother will reject a fawn that carries human scent. These are wild animals whose milieu is disrupted by humanity so their pasture and growth cycle are both stunted. Philvoids (talk) 09:39, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The "rejecting human scent" is hooey, though it's of some antiquity. (Though with fawns, it's possible the human scent might attract predators.) But yes, it's a thing that happens. We have a lot of mule deer here. I've seen fawns in the autumn. A friend had a couple dropped in her yard just a week ago. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 15:04, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Heat wave[edit]

In school, it is taught that countries near the equator will face more heat from sun, but in news more heatwaves are in India, Pakistan, Europe, Canada than Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brazil? Nasterg (talk) 11:21, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Conditions in the equatorial area are more constant. They are hot all the time. The weather is less variable. Where I live a heat wave happens when the air gets baked over the desert in the center of the continent, and then a wind blows the heat away from the equator (to the south in my case) and brings abnormal heat. But for the dessert area, that heat is normal, so its not a heat wave there. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 11:35, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

A heat wave is relative. In much of Canada, a week of 85-degree weather would be a heat wave, whereas in some parts of the globe, that might constitute cool weather.

All parts of the globe are expected to see more extreme weather due to climate change than we did in previous centuries. Because there's little cold weather in equatorial regions, the increased heat there will be more remarkable than increased incidence of cooler weather. In middle latitudes, we're seeing more extremes of both heat and cold. And in all areas we're seeing more extremes of both drought and precipitation. -- Avocado (talk) 14:34, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

At NYC weather stations a week of 85.0 highs in the hottest part of the year would be calendar day averages, maybe even slightly below. It's not considered a heatwave till 90F highs for 3 days in a row. At the north tip of Canada all-time high is 21 (69.8°F), previous record was ~20 (68), room temperature would be a heat wave. Everywhere on Greenland had melted by now but 32F is still a heat wave in parts of Greenland. At the South Pole -12.3C/9.86F is the hottest in the station's over 66.5 year history. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:35, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Here are the hottest temperatures ever recorded at each latitude band:

90°N to 89.9°N: 13C/55.40F NORTH POLE

89.9°N to 80°N: 21.0C/69.80F CANADA

80°N to 70°N: 36.7C/98.06F ASIAN RUSSIA

70°N to Arctic Circle (~66.56°N): 38.0C/100.40F ASIAN RUSSIA

Arctic Circle (~66.56°N) to 60°N: 39.9C/103.82F CANADA

60°N to 50°N: 49.6C/121.28F CANADA

50.24°N to 45°N: 49.6C/121.28F CANADA 2021

45°N to 40°N: 52.2C/125.96F CHINA. The record was 50.7C/123.26F from 1986 to about half day ago!

40°N to 30°N: 130.0F/54.444C FURNACE CREEK (DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA)

30°N to Tropic of Cancer (~23.44°N): 54.0C/129.20F KUWAIT

Tropic of Cancer (~23.44°N) to 20°N: 52.0C/125.60F SAUDI ARABIA

20°N to 10°N: 50.0C/122.00F MAURITANIA

10°N to 0°N: 46.4C/115.52F NIGERIA

0°S to 10°S: 42.7C/108.86F BRAZIL

10°S to 20°S: 48.4C/119.12F AUSTRALIA

20°S to Tropic of Capricorn (~23.44°S): 50.7C/123.26F AUSTRALIA

Tropic of Capricorn (~23.44°S) to 30°S: 50.7C/123.26F AUSTRALIA

30°S to 40°S: 50.0C/122.00F AUSTRALIA

40°S to 45°S: 44.6C/112.28F ARGENTINA

45°S to 50°S: 40.2C/104.36F ARGENTINA

50°S to 60°S: 37.0C/98.60F ARGENTINA

60°S to Antarctic Circle (~66.56°S): 19.8C/67.64F OBSCURE ISLAND

Antarctic Circle (~66.56°S) to 80°S: 15.0C/59.00F ANTARCTICA

70°S to 80°S: 15.0C/59.00F ANTARCTICA

80°S to 89.9°S: 5.9C/42.62F ANTARCTICA

89.9°S to 90°S: -12.3C/9.86F SOUTH POLE WEATHER STATION

That's just how the Earth works, hot air rises the most in an intertropical convergence that follows where the Sun is overhead at noon but delayed so it never gets >23° from the equator everywhere cause 365 days is too short, this makes that zone humid and cloudy as f**k, not a dry heat at all. The air goes miles high then migrates to about 30 degrees from the equator (this moves a bit with the seasons too) where it sinks. Can't have all the latitudes going up and none going down. The high altitude air of the mid-latitudes also ends up in this band around 30 degrees from the equator and sinks. This downdraft makes this latitude band have less clouds than low or medium latitudes and also being on land, north of equator, on a continent not an island, west side of the continent, at low altitude and upwind of mountain range(s) all increase the heat, cloud rarity, humidity lowness and record highs of parts of the band with these feature(s). Then the wind returns to the equator and roughly 60 north completing the cycle. 3 cell-pair convection! Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:03, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)In some places in the mid latitudes, most notably central and eastern North America in winter, we see an increase in cold extremes. This is quite exceptional. Here in western Europe, both the 10 coldest days of the year and the 10 hottest days have become 5°C warmer over the past 40 years, while the average day has only become 2.5°C warmer (already twice the worldwide average), so the hot extremes increase and the cold extremes decrease. PiusImpavidus (talk) 19:16, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)Near the equator, the sun is on average higher in the sky, giving more incoming radiation, but there are a few factors to complicate matters. At the equator, the air generally rises, giving much cloud cover. In the desert bands (20–35 degrees latitude), the air sinks, reducing cloud cover. That makes the subtropical latitudes hotter. Also, the lack of moisture available for evaporation allows the temperature to rise much faster during the day in such arid areas. And when you're at the tropic circle at midsummer, the sun gets as high in the sky as on the equator at the equinox (i.e. in the zenith), but the day lasts longer.

As mentioned above, heat waves are somewhat relative. They get in the news when it's much hotter than what people (and nature) are used to. The higher your latitude, the faster the temperature rise due to anthropogenic global warming, so this is mostly a problem of the mid and high latitudes. Not entirely though: when the dew point gets close to body temperature, you've an absolute problem. PiusImpavidus (talk) 19:16, 16 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Another factor is proximity to the sea and the temperature of the currents within it. Alansplodge (talk) 16:24, 18 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]