The temperature in the river was about 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) in the early hours of Tuesday, according to a buoy that collects data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Edited to add:
Replies seem to think that I think 8°C water isn’t cold or dangerous. I don’t think that.
I’ll wear a t-shirt outside for 10 minutes when it’s 47 degrees outside. But 47 is a whole new level of cold when it’s water.
I have a little pond in the yard, so I occasionally have to reach in there throughout the year. Right now it’s close to that 47F mark, and it’s like past “this is cold” to “this hurts!”
We always knew when Coach had set the pool to the 45° F ice bath he would have us train in part of the time, cause the first person jumped in and almost came back out of the pool. When he set it to 75° that felt like a sauna and made me sleepy.
Loss of consciousness is expected to occur within 30-60 minutes and death is expected within 1-3 hours at those water temps. I would assume none of the victims were wearing personal flotation devices, so rescue of anyone else seems highly unlikely.
It’s also the Patapsco River. Once it hits the city area it’s no longer the quiescent river that’s fun to play with. It’s basically the bay already, just not named as such yet. One thing that could save people though is the tide was low and moving in at the time.
Water cools the body about 25 times faster than air of the same temp. A diver in 70-degree water may go blue in the lips even with a wetsuit. 47 degrees will have your body going numb super quickly. Then you lose dexterity and start having muscle cramps all over. You lose the ability to swim away or even tread water.
Edited to add:
Replies seem to think that I think 8°C water isn’t cold or dangerous. I don’t think that.
I’ll wear a t-shirt outside for 10 minutes when it’s 47 degrees outside. But 47 is a whole new level of cold when it’s water.
I have a little pond in the yard, so I occasionally have to reach in there throughout the year. Right now it’s close to that 47F mark, and it’s like past “this is cold” to “this hurts!”
We always knew when Coach had set the pool to the 45° F ice bath he would have us train in part of the time, cause the first person jumped in and almost came back out of the pool. When he set it to 75° that felt like a sauna and made me sleepy.
https://westpacmarine.com/samples/hypothermia_chart.php
Loss of consciousness is expected to occur within 30-60 minutes and death is expected within 1-3 hours at those water temps. I would assume none of the victims were wearing personal flotation devices, so rescue of anyone else seems highly unlikely.
It’s also the Patapsco River. Once it hits the city area it’s no longer the quiescent river that’s fun to play with. It’s basically the bay already, just not named as such yet. One thing that could save people though is the tide was low and moving in at the time.
Water temp of 47 can be lethal very quickly.
Water cools the body about 25 times faster than air of the same temp. A diver in 70-degree water may go blue in the lips even with a wetsuit. 47 degrees will have your body going numb super quickly. Then you lose dexterity and start having muscle cramps all over. You lose the ability to swim away or even tread water.
It’s bad.
8 is pretty close to zero.
In the grand scheme of things, so is the temperature of boiling water.