heat index

[heet in-deks]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Meteorology.

a formulaically calculated approximation of how hot it feels given the temperature of the air combined with the relative humidity, based on the fact that an actual temperature will feel warmer as the relative humidity rises and causes a decrease in the natural evaporative cooling from perspiration. HI, H.I.

heat index

A measurement of the air temperature in relation to the relative humidity, used as an indicator of discomfort. The heat index is higher when high air temperatures occur with high humidity, and lower when they occur with low humidity. The heat index is based on studies of skin cooling caused by the evaporation of sweat.
Also called apparent temperature

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Word History and Origins

Origin of heat index¹

First recorded in 1975–80

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The A.I. slop of the Heat Index tells us much about the declining standards of print journalism, but it also holds lessons for the current plight of all journalism.

From

The fantastical Heat Index insert comprises the dying embers of this business.

From

Which brings us back to the Heat Index.

From

If you Google another one of the Heat Index’s fake books, The Last Algorithm by Andy Weir, you get an Amazon page for The Last Algorithm by Isaac Asimov—a Kindle-only product from February fraudulently advertised as a work by the late science-fiction great who died in 1992.

From

In some ways, the Heat Index points to where we’re going, toward an internet of regurgitation, in which art and writing are composed of machine-processed fragments of what came before.

From

heathy heating

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