Just like in the winter, in the rare years when it snows a lot, the city shuts down. There aren't enough, if any, snowplows to clear even the largest main roads. So when "extreme" weather hits in the summer, most Seattlites find it challenging to deal with the heat as most home aren't equipped with central air.
But for the past week, temperatures have been outrageous and is expected to last for several days. In fact, today, Seattle was supposed to reach the highest temperature in its history, above 100 degrees.
For the Oh's, my family is practically melting in the heat. When at home, everyone just sweats. Poor little Mia's hair is constantly plastered to her head and there is no escape from the heat anywhere in the house. Since there is no AC, the only alternative to cooling things down are fans, which would entail, there being fans in the house. Unfortunately, ma and pa Oh don't believe in fans. In fact, they are downright fearful of the things.
In Korea, there is a prominent myth believed by pretty much everyone, including my parents.
As defined on Wikipedia: Fan death is a South Korean urban legend which states that an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can cause the death of those inside (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia). Fans manufactured and sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.
And my parents are believers! So instead of cooling off with a fan, they would rather suffer in the heat for fear that the fan will kill them in their sleep! So, how does the fan kill? More from Wikipedia:
1. An electric fan creates a vortex, which sucks the oxygen from the enclosed and sealed room and creates a partial vacuum inside.
2. The fan used directly on your body causes suffocation, because the fast-moving air around your face makes inhalation difficult.
3. Breathing through skin constitutes a significant proportion of breathing, and the fast-moving air caused by the fan makes the skin-breathing difficult, leading to suffocation.
4. An electric fan chops up all the oxygen particles in the air leaving none to breathe.
5. The fan uses up the oxygen in the room and creates fatal levels of carbon dioxide.
6. If the fan is left on all night in a sealed and enclosed room, believers in fan death suppose that it will lower the temperature of the room to the point that it can cause hypothermia.
7. Fans contribute to hyperthermia, commonly known as heatstroke.
Crazy? Yes. But to add to the mania, the Korean government backs the claim! And why not? They were raised to believe it too!
If bodies are exposed to electric fans or air conditioners for too long, it causes [the] bodies to lose water and [causes] hypothermia. If directly in contact with [air current from] a fan, this could lead to death from [an] increase of carbon dioxide saturation concentration [sic] and decrease of oxygen concentration. The risks are higher for the elderly and patients with respiratory problems. From 2003 [to] 2005, a total of 20 cases were reported through the CISS involving asphyxiations caused by leaving electric fans and air conditioners on while sleeping. To prevent asphyxiation, timers should be set, wind direction should be rotated and doors should be left open. -Korean Consumer Protection Board
Ridiculous. Have you ever heard of such absurdness?! Now, thinking back to my mission, I do remember my companion urging me to turn off the fan at night before going to sleep to which I refused. It was high 90s all through the summer in Korea with ridiculous levels of humidity! Poor comp, she probably feared for her life, every night.
If the rumor is true, I think we can put all our money on the vortex explanation. Definitely the vortex.
5 comments:
i am still alive - even in so cal because i like the breeze leave my fan on all night long... it is wonderful. i am not missing washington state at this moment in time.
Yes! Bc my parents are the same way. Not that I believe in it, but for some reason I hate direct air blowing on my face. I'll have to show Donnie this, he'll laugh. He heard a story about it on NPR, random I know!
all the direct air blowing on my causes (besides a decent night's sleep) is a little dry mouth. solved by angling the fan to blow on my body but not my head.
i feel for the hot-ohs!!!!!
we were in the midst of a heat wave last week (90+ for days) and as you can imagine, edmonton has little need of air conditioners 95% of the year, so it got a little toasty in my home.
This is one of the most fascinating posts ever--death by fan?! I love it.
I feel for your fam--you know the Chambers certainly don't have AC either, so they are dying as well. Every day I get a voicemail from my dad, and every day it is the exact same thing,
"Sarah, your dad here. Just calling to tell you it is xx degrees on the back porch!"
That's it. He calls to tell me the exact temperature and hangs up. Lovely.
Duh. That's not superstition. That's SCIENCE.
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