XKCD: It's more than a comic

The entrance is at 1.5 km above sea level.

The Wikipedia article still says "the mine is so deep that temperatures in the mine can rise to life-threatening levels" so the depth from sea level might not be very important. This mine is basically as deep has possible.

edited 6th Apr '15 12:15:31 PM by Aetol

Worldbuilding is fun, writing is a chore

You're forgetting that the temperature also varies from place to place. And "life threatening" is a wider range than "around 100 C which will literally cook you"

The rock face temperature of the TauTona mine is 60 °C. Powerful air conditioning equipment is used to cool the air down to 28 °C, which is hot but survivable.

The Kola Borehole was more than 12 km deep, but was not human-accessible. Higher-than-expected temperatures of 180 °C at that depth made drilling further impractical.

edited 6th Apr '15 12:32:11 PM by Shinziril

Wait, 28 degrees Celsius is hot but survivable? Where do you live?

The tropics? The weather forecast in the corner of Malaysia I'm in today says the high will be 31 degrees Celsius and a heat index of 41 degrees.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot

Map of the USA by movie settings.

Princess Aurora is underrated, pass it on.

Not pictured: Vancouver. Contents: Fucking everything.

They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!

Last Monday it was 36C here in the Philippines.

edited 8th Apr '15 1:05:09 AM by entropy13

I'm reading this because it's interesting. I think. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, over.

The Wile E Cyote one is scarily true. I've been round that area on a family holiday back in 2008, and it was surprising how much parts of it looked like the cartoons.

It'd also work with basically any Western ever.

Direct all enquiries to Jamie B Good

Wow. Is thar normal? My city had a record 38 C in February, I think, but it was a freak occurence. Thank God I wasn't there.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

It's normal (but doesn't happen often - yet) during this time.

I'm reading this because it's interesting. I think. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, over.

Toronto (yes, that Toronto) easily gets over 30C in the summer. With humidity taken into account we have yearly heat waves of over 40C.

edited 8th Apr '15 7:07:57 AM by Cidolfas

I've been to Egypt, where 40C or more is defined as "pretty hot".

They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!

Where I live - Eastern Finland - we consider 20 degrees Celsius very warm, but basically still normal for the summer. At 30 all small talk will be about how it's a particularly warm summer, especially if it's been around that temperature for days - apparently 35 is roughly the warmest it can get here. I recall it going to just about 40, but the Meteorological Institute uses different methods to measure temperatures and they have the temperature peaks in my lifetime hovering around 37.

Of course the region where I live also gets very cold winters - -20 is about average, and at -30 people start complaining about it being a bit too cold. -40 is rare but it happens every once in a while. Basically the winter and summer temperatures are roughly the same, except that the winter temperatures are negative.

The warmest temperatures a Finn experiences regularly (as in, at least once a week) occur in the sauna. Normally you go in when it's around 80, and it hovers between that and 100 when you're there. People who like it really hot go to 120, but I don't think anybody likes to keep it there for long.

edited 8th Apr '15 8:33:37 AM by BestOf

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

Scandinavians are fucking nuts.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

That alt text. Ha.

I consider 28 °C hot mostly because I don't like being hot, and it is above a comfortable temperature. I'm fully aware that there's plenty of places that get hotter than that, including where I live (the American Midwest). Possibly my phrasing was bad.

Wait, are you using Celsius or Fahreinheit when you're talking about the sauna? Because I don't see how someone could be in a room that's 100 degrees Celsius without suffering severe burns and dying, given that that's the boiling point of water.

edited 8th Apr '15 11:45:01 AM by Galadriel

Wikipedia says high heat and low humidity compared to saunas with lower heat but more water.

edited 8th Apr '15 11:47:13 AM by Arha

That's actually reasonable. See, your evaporating sweat forms a kind of protective barrier around you, so as long as you stay still, you're fine. It hurts when you move, yeah, but not enough to make it lethal.

"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."

Every temperature in my post was Celsius. It's completely normal to have 100 Celsius in the sauna.

EDIT: I looked up what 100 Fahrenheit would be - less than 40 Celsius. There's no way you'd get anything out of a sauna at 40 Celsius. It needs to be at least 60 before you'll even get any steam from the stones when you throw water on them. Typically if the sauna is at 60 degrees you'll still be waiting for it to be ready, and go in when it's closer to 80.

edited 8th Apr '15 12:45:47 PM by BestOf

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

I've only been in a sauna a few times, and I get the feeling it hasn't been the True Scandinavian Article. What are they good for again? Also, 100º C? Goddamn.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

There's more than one kind of sauna. Others have more steam and lower temperatures.

The sauna is an important part of Finnish culture. It's relaxing, and it's supposed to have a number of health benefits - I've heard that it improves circulation and the immune system, and that it can relieve headaches. Sweating a lot before a shower is also supposed to open up your pores or something. I have no clue if any of those claims are true, however.

Most Finnish homes have a sauna. Flats in high-rises don't tend to have room for a sauna, but there's usually a shared one that you can book. I and my girlfriend have it reserved for an hour every Thursday. Using a sauna once a week is normal for people who live in a block of flats like us. The typical Finnish family lives in a house, though, and I don't think I've ever seen a Finnish house that doesn't have at least one sauna. If you have your own sauna you're obviously going to use it more than once a week, though not every time you bathe (/clean yourself/take a shower or whatever term you like to use.)

Bathing in the sauna is a social thing where the whole family (or whichever group you happen to be with) bathes together. Normally you go from the shower to the sauna and back a couple of times before you clean yourself in the shower like you normally would.

There's not much of a taboo against nudity in Finnish culture, so even if you're going with strangers people normally don't care whether it's a mixed sauna; but usually there's an hour or two reserved for women, another such period for men, and finally some time where everyone can go together if they like. Obviously, no one thinks about sex in the sauna or leers at others or anything like that. (It probably helps that for most Finns about 90% of the times they go to the sauna growing up they'll be there with their parents, so it's obviously not sexualised the way it might be if you were an adult the first time you go.)

Personally, I always feel cleaner after a sauna than I do if I've just had a shower. It's very relaxing, as well. I'm not one to let the sauna get really hot before I go in - I'll be happy at 80 degrees. I also don't throw a lot of water on the stones. I like it when the steam stings a bit but I know some people who throw so much I find it uncomfortable.

If you don't think this is weird enough now I'll just mention that the ideal sauna that every Finn wants to have is right on a beach so you can run or jump into a lake when it gets too hot and then go back in after a brief swim. Some people also do this in the winter - it's called ice swimming. You make a hole in the ice and dip in the freezing water. I haven't tried it yet but people tell me it feels great to go in that and then rush back in the sauna to get warm again. I've done the sauna-to-lake-and-back thing, though. If you don't have a lake near your sauna you can go out and roll in the snow. I don't find that particularly enjoyable but some of my friends like to do it.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

I've been to hot springs that have hot pools as well as very cold pools, and jumping between the hot and cold ones is very sastifying.