Another scorcher of a summer.
Yes, it’s hot but what kind of ‘heat’ are you feeling right now?
Heat is heat, you say, but is it really? Allow a lifetime connoisseur of summer heat to guide you through the various types of hot.
There are those who will disagree based on their location, personal biology, and need to be disagreeable but listen not to such persons.
Here are the categories of ‘hot’ you can expect if you visit The Bahamas in the middle of summer (Summer: End of April to the beginning of November)
May – The start of ‘real hot’. Daily daytime temperatures climb over 80F (26C) but nights are still cool at around 70F (21C). Nothing to get excited about yet but putting some money aside for the electricity bills to come is a good idea.
June – Think of sitting in your bathroom with all the hot water faucets on and closing the door. Now get comfortable because you’ll be there for an entire month.
A sticky, clinging heat is caused by high temperatures and high humidity as June is the rainiest month. With the daytime temperatures over 90F ( 32C ) and the sweat unable to evaporate off your skin, miserably hot best describes June in The Bahamas.
July – Tortuously hot. The heat strikes your skin like a heated leather belt. Mid-July to mid-August heat actually stings the skin.
When moving outside, you have two real choices. Fast, to get out of the direct sun but generating more internal heat with every step. Slow, to avoid internal overheating but taking more blows with the hot leather belt. Choose wisely.
August – “It can’t be worse than July!” Sorry if you didn’t get the memo, but it’s waaay worse.
Every surface is now heated either from direct sunlight or absorption of heat from the air. Speaking of ‘Air’, your body has no mechanism to cool it down before it hits your lungs.
The best explanation is to heat your oven to 400F for baking a cake. You open the oven door and inhale that hot air deeply through your mouth and nose. Repeat until nauseous from breathing hot air.
Worst of all, no cake.
Even after the sun goes down, house walls feel warm to the touch. The heat radiates inside and fans are just blowing the hot air to make you miserable.
September – The peak of hurricane season.
Even a minor storm (Category 1 -2) can kill electricity for days. No A/C, no fans, no ice in your drink but a truckload of mosquitoes because of the rain. September is the generalist of summer heat and the average high temperature is still 90F (32C). It has all types mentioned in the previous months plus hurricanes to keep it interesting at the close of summer.
Night Time – The predicted low temperature tonight is 79F (26C) which might happen around 4:00 or 5:00 am but by 9:00 am it will be over 90F which is normal for this time of year. This means that there is less than a 20-degree difference between the day’s highest and lowest temperatures. Without fans or Air Conditioning, the body is under constant heat stress. Not everybody can afford air conditioning and this changes health outcomes, especially for the elderly.
Conclusion
As I write this in the summer of 2022 Europe and North America are in the grip of killer heatwaves. Undoubtedly, oil lobbyists’ fingers are flying over keyboards explaining how this has nothing to do with Global Warming, only taking breaks to stuff bags with money for their favourite politicians people. My heart goes out to the people suffering. As for the Climate Change Deniers who are also broiling,
Jeremy,
Thanks for sending me your interesting post. I have lived in 6 different countries, but never in your part of the world, although the South Pacific Islands are not far from where I currently live. I am writing this from Southern Queensland, Australia, which, you would be aware, is in the middle of winter right now. I have travelled all over Australia over the last 30 years, sometimes just plain bloody hot, sometimes bloody hot and sticky (excuse my French).
Obviously our hot weather is during your winter, but it gets just as hot. Maybe there are 6 types of summer heat, but from my point of view, when it is hot, it is hot! I think that the humidity level is the critical factor that decides of how hot it feels. To be quite honest, I believe that dry heat is a lot kinder to us humans, but that is not something that islands usually enjoy.
As I am writing this, my hands are cold, but give it another six months and I will wish some of that cold was around. What it means that in this part of the world, spring and autumn are the best months as far as weather is concerned.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make comment.
Regards, Phil
You’re probably right in that the variance of humidity affects how we experience ‘hot’. Temperatures over 105F are rare but 90F days can last for months. Wishing you all the best for December.