Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
@
Skipjacks you are indeed more likely to get sunburned when it's hot for the same reason it's hot, the sunlight is more intense because of its higher altitude and the sun is up longer in summer.
Well yeah....sunburn is more likely in summer for a variety of reasons
1) You are out in the sun longer
2) You aren't as covered up
3) The higher angle of the sun means it's got less atmosphere to penetrate and be dissipated by (which is 1 of 2 reasons it's hotter in the first place)
But heat doesn't cause sunburn. Period.
Heat and sunburn is correlation, not causation. (Work with me. I loved statistics in college but I never get to use that phrase in a sentence. I can't pass up the chance when it's there!)
You get an extra shot of sunlight when you are skiing because of the higher (above sea level) altitude giving less attenuation of the light, and the sun reflected off the snow
Not on the crappy foot hills I ski on. This may be true in the real mountains of Aspen, but in the pretend skiing I do barely above sea level in the Mid Atlantic it's more from the glare of sunlight off the snow that amplifies what would otherwise be limited UV exposure.
I call it the reverse summer tan. Instead of a tanned face with light spots where my sunglasses were like beach goers get, skiiers get a white face that was covered up by a face mask and tanned eyes where your skin was exposed. (I won't explain why my legs are white and my butt in tan, in reverse of summer.....)