ARS TECHNICA – Climate tipping points pose grave risks to human health—and, unsurprisingly, approaching them while tipsy only makes the fallout more blistering, according to a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
One case study is the searing story of an inebriated gentleman who regrettably took a one-minute walk while barefoot during the unprecedented 2021 Northwest heat dome.
The man walked across asphalt during the extreme weather, in which air temperatures reached as high as 108° F. That’s about 38° F above historical averages for the area.
Asphalt can absorb 95 percent of solar radiation and easily reach 40° F to 60° F above air temperatures on hot days.
The 56-year-old man arrived at a burn center with red oozing burns on the soles of both his feet and the heel of his left foot. The heel of his right foot was blistered, but not oozing (graphic image here).
The toes on his right foot were also burned to various degrees. He was in severe pain. The burns were classified as second-degree, meaning they affected both the outer and middle layers of skin. The most severe level of burn is third-degree, which affects deep layers of skin, sometimes called full-thickness burns.
In the burn unit, doctors gave the man a pain reliever, cleaned the burns, treated them with a topical antibiotic …
