It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity

Posted at 9:00 AM, Monday, March 10, 2008

Last night at 6:15 p.m. the temperature finally dipped below 100 degrees for the first time since noon. The humidity was 10%. (No, I did not forget to put in an extra zero.) We are in the middle of the longest heatwave since our arrival in Australia 18 months ago: the temperature rose above 95 degrees last Tuesday and is forecast to remain at 90 degrees or much higher possibly for another eight days.

For much of the last week, I was in a pleasant mood despite the heat. The sun is rising later as the days grow shorter, so it has taken longer for the sun's rays to heat up our house. We have actually acclimated somewhat to these extremes in temperature, so that my response to a 105 degree yesterday today was to pack the kids off to the pool rather than stay shut up inside. Also, the UV index is considerably lower than it was at the height of the summer, so the sun isn't nearly as powerful. (Quick intro. to the UV index: anything over a 3 is considered high enough to merit putting on sun screen. Today's UV index was 8. In the middle of January it was sometimes as high as 13.)

My good cheer was shattered Saturday night, the latest in a thankfully rare number of appallingly hot and dry nights. By 3:30 a.m., Nadav had awakened me five times asking for water and to be washed down with a wet cloth against the heat. The windows were open and all the fans were going full steam, but neither he nor I could sleep. I turned on the computer to check the outside temperature. It was 89 degrees, and a light breeze was blowing more hot and extremely dry air from the north. I opened up the sleeper couch in the living room, put sheets on the bed, directed the fan from the air conditioned dining room next door to cool us down, and moved myself and Nadav in by 4:00 a.m. Of course, our cat Hobbes considered our unexpected choice of venue to be an invitation to play and started leaping on and off the bed. Nadav was delighted by his new surroundings and chattered on for quite a while. I figure it was close to another hour before we finally fell asleep. Not the most restful of nights, especially when you know the next day it's likely to be "stinking hot" (to use our administrator Lesley's expression).

Last night the whole family slept in the living room, in an operation complicated enough to impress the military. The boys slept on the floor, and Bobby and I slept on the fold-out futon. Bobby applied his typical scientific methods to finding the most efficient placement of fans. It was, I must say, incredibly comfortable, and I slept like a log for nine hours. It cooled all the way down to 74 degrees last night, which must have helped somewhat. And today it's only supposed to get up to 102, which I suppose must be considered an improvement over 105.

As I mentioned long ago, Australians still rarely have central air conditioning in their homes. Usually, one or two rooms have a window or wall unit, and that's where life unfolds during the summer. For sure we were not the only families in Adelaide to uproot ourselves from our bedrooms and move into the lounge. There are also a surprisingly large number of households who have no air conditioning at all. In this weather, they may make due with portable evaporative coolers, which cool the nearby air by dripping water through a gentle fan. Otherwise, they may throw themselves on the mercy of friends and relatives, or perhaps pack up to cool Tasmania for a bit of a holiday.

As a Washington, DC native, I'm occasionally nostalgic for humidity. During this dry spell, we are lucky if the nighttime humidity gets as high as 20%. Someone told me that if she flies up to tropical Queensland, she can feel her face puff up from the sudden jump in moisture. I certainly don't miss the 70% humidity the Washington weather could occasionally inflict, and I also can't imagine subjecting myself to the Northern Territory's summers of 110 degree heat and 100% humidity. But when the humidity level dips below 15%, my hands feel dry as dust even fifteen minutes after I've put lotion on them. I wouldn't complain about just a wee bit more moisture!