Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Moria's audacious statement of the day

The American Midwest is more humid than Southeast Asia.

I have actually speculated that this is the case for a number of years now. I recall my days trekking around Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, hot and sweaty, but not unbearably so. Years later I moved to the Midwest, and always struggled through the summers. There would be days I would go lay out--perfectly still--and still sweat like a glass of ice tea.

That's the evidence. In the Midwest, you can break a severe sweat doing nothing. But in Southeast Asia, it takes some intense working to get that sweaty. I was walking around outside in Jakarta Sunday afternoon and didn't break a sweat. I sit outside for my meals here and don't break a sweat. It's hot, and not that comfortable, but not that humid, either.

To be fair, not every day in the Midwest is like that, and this past summer was amazingly mild. Really enjoyable, actually. But it still seems that, in general, the Midwest is more humid than Southeast Asia.

4 comments:

Maggie said...

Is it my sin or my parents' that caused me to be born in the humid, humid American Midwest?

Nat said...

This is something I have observed, too. I mean, not in relation to Southeast Asia in particular; just in general. The humidity here is often eighty percent or higher.

My observation has been that, were it not for the fact that my whole life, and most of the people I know, are here—that is to say, if all else were equal—I would have no predilection to live in Indiana at all.

Moria said...

@Author: It was neither that you sinned, nor your parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in the non-humidity of California. :)

@Nat: What more is there to say?

sarahlaughed said...

Fascinating: Though I find it incredible, I've heard as many as five or six separate individuals assert this fact. I guess I always assumed that "the jungle" would be more humid than Midwest America. (Shows up my predjudice, eh?)