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In Aliens when the marines first encounter the aliens, they head into the 'nest' and one of them says 'it's hot in here' and Hudson (Bill Paxton) says 'Yeah, but it's a dry heat'.

This line has always made me think that he is paying homage to another film or production.

Am I right or am I reading too much into the way he delivers the line?

Napoleon Wilson
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Pat Dobson
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2 Answers2

75

It's an old joke/cliche dating back many years but it's not movie related

In Arizona, Texas and other parts of the west, the temperature often averages over 100 degrees during the summer. “But it’s a dry heat!” is the clichéd response that some natives give, explaining that it’s more tolerable without humidity. “The thermometer frequently registers 120 in the shade, but it’s a dry heat, and one doesn’t notice it at all” was cited in print in 1910 to jokingly describe the heat in Southern California.

Source with other references

Community
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Paulie_D
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    I knew it was referring to something and it's no surprise that old jokes from the west of America don't really translate all that well to rainy old England ! – Pat Dobson Mar 06 '17 at 15:59
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    This answer makes it seem like the phrase is completely a joke, and only used in that sense. It's not. Dry heat IS more tolerable than the same temperature in humid weather, and people still use it without making any kind of joke. – user428517 Mar 06 '17 at 17:59
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    @sgroves Is 100% correct. 90° F in 100% relative humidity in the modern swamp of D.C. is almost unbearable, while 90° F in 10% RH in the modern desert that is LA is a pleasant afternoon. – Todd Wilcox Mar 06 '17 at 18:13
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    It's not just that a dry heat is more comfortable, it can be survivable when the same temperature at high humidity would kill you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index#Table_of_values – armb Mar 06 '17 at 18:21
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    When I (from NYC) went to college (near LA), I was shocked to discover on several occasions that the temperatures were in the 95-100 degree range—it didn’t feel even remotely that hot to me, since temperatures that high in (far more humid) NYC are vastly more unpleasant than the same temperatures in southern California. – KRyan Mar 06 '17 at 18:58
  • I'm not sure how much of a joke it is, really. 100 degrees in the Nevada desert is nothing like a high-humidity heat wave in the upper Midwest. – PoloHoleSet Mar 06 '17 at 20:04
  • I live in AZ and I have been in the SouthEast in the midst of summer. I can tell you there is a significant difference. 120 degrees in Phx in the summer feels hot, yes, but you don't necessarily sweat like you would at 90 degrees in Georgia or South Carolina... The southeast is stickier than the south-west and it is far less comfortable. – Aviose Mar 06 '17 at 21:31
  • It's a joke when the actual temperature gets high enough. A dry 250° (~120° C) is still going to kill you, and 120°/49° is going to be hugely uncomfortable for anyone who didn't grow up in that kind of weather no matter how low the humidity. – 1006a Mar 07 '17 at 05:03
  • @1006a: I've been in surface temperatures as high as 150° F on tarmac in the summer sun, and there's an enormous difference between those temperatures in nice, dry Tucson, and the same temperatures in Doha, a couple miles off the Persian gulf, with humidity 20-30% higher than Tucson. I don't think there's anywhere on the planet, even with man-made pavement, that gets hot enough to kill you if you're properly hydrated and in decent condition, but you stay cooler in dry air than damp air for sure. – MichaelS Mar 07 '17 at 05:53
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    @MichaelS "I don't think there's anywhere on the planet" But the movie doesn't take place on this planet ;-). I'm not disagreeing with the idea that humidity affects how we feel heat; but taken to extremes, this truism can be a joke. "Oh, no, the super-villain has locked us in a walk-in kiln! It heats up to 2000 degrees!!!" "Yeah, but it's a dry heat." – 1006a Mar 07 '17 at 06:06
  • @1006a : I regularly go into a dry 210F (100C) for pleasure (sauna). http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-10912578 suggests some people go into 160C for a few minutes. – Martin Bonner supports Monica Mar 07 '17 at 11:30
  • With high humidity, its harder for sweat to evaporate, and sweat is our primary method of cooling off. In hot and dry conditions, sweat can evaporate before we even know it was secreted, and that cools us off significantly. Also, Water can hold more heat than air, and transfers it better. You know this because 200 F water can cause serious damage, but people stick their bare arms into 400 F ovens all the time without even thinking about it (carefully avoiding the 400 F metal inside). – Ryan Mar 08 '17 at 18:06
  • I've never heard this in Texas. Most of Texas is at least moderately humid. – stu42j Mar 10 '17 at 16:48
20

It's just a bit of gallows humor.

The remark is often said in real life to downplay someone else's complaint about heat. It's a casual remark and not something one would expect to hear in a life-and-death situation like the one in the movie -- so Hudson uses it as dark humor, its carefree normalcy contrasting with the extreme tension of the situation.

Shiz Z.
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