Living in southern Louisiana has its positives and its negatives. Chief among its negatives are the unpleasant high-humidity summers and having to contend with another hurricane season which officially starts tomorrow. Remember Gustav last year? It went right through Houma. Not only did it leave the community in a mess, it wasn't too kind to scientists conducting field-oriented research either. Several experiments at our Research Unit had to be postponed for another year. During graduate school days in Minnesota, the main temperature effect we talked about was the wind chill factor or
wind chill index during the winter time. If it was cold outside, the wind made it feel like it was a whole lot colder.
In southern Louisiana, the main temperature effect we talk about in the summer is the
heat index. So if it is hot, and then you add humidity with the heat, the body responds as though it is a lot hotter than what the thermometer would indicate. As shown in the graph, it feels like 100 F or more during the hottest part of the day through the months of June, July, and August even though the temperature rarely reaches 95 F. Foremost in the local news is the urgent need for greater hurricane protection and coastal restoration projects. At the
Houma Today website, one of the featured videos in the VIDEOS section entitled "America's Wetland," has some footage describing a rally that is being held at the downtown marina in Houma today to raise awareness about the serious loss of wetland along Louisiana's coastline. One of the comments was that "Some people call Houma ground zero. We call it zero ground, because this is THE place where the most land is being lost."
Living in southern Louisiana has its positives and its negatives. Chief among its negatives are the unpleasant high-humidity summers and having to contend with another hurricane season which officially starts tomorrow. Remember Gustav last year? It went right through Houma. Not only did it leave the community in a mess, it wasn't too kind to scientists conducting field-oriented research either. Several experiments at our Research Unit had to be postponed for another year. During graduate school days in Minnesota, the main temperature effect we talked about was the wind chill factor or wind chill index during the winter time. If it was cold outside, the wind made it feel like it was a whole lot colder.
In southern Louisiana, the main temperature effect we talk about in the summer is the heat index. So if it is hot, and then you add humidity with the heat, the body responds as though it is a lot hotter than what the thermometer would indicate. As shown in the graph, it feels like 100 F or more during the hottest part of the day through the months of June, July, and August even though the temperature rarely reaches 95 F. Foremost in the local news is the urgent need for greater hurricane protection and coastal restoration projects. At the Houma Today website, one of the featured videos in the VIDEOS section entitled "America's Wetland," has some footage describing a rally that is being held at the downtown marina in Houma today to raise awareness about the serious loss of wetland along Louisiana's coastline. One of the comments was that "Some people call Houma ground zero. We call it zero ground, because this is THE place where the most land is being lost."
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