A Heatwave or Not?
The weather is one among the most talked about topics every day. It is an everyday discussion that can come up at anytime of the day in-between conversations, between any group of people. It’s one subject that only needs a slight change in temperature to be easily brought up as it affects everyone living on earth.
Recently in Nigeria, there has been a heatwave going on especially in the South-Eastern Regions, which has always been considered a coastal area.
In a normal climate setting, this part of the country should be experiencing a relatively cold weather in the morning and night accompanied by high sunshine from noon till evening. This is known as the harmattan period in Nigeria. But the ongoing situation is really quite unusual and is definitely worse than any ever experienced in recent years in the country.
The scorching temperature is steadily becoming so terrible that people are now concerned about experiencing things like heat exhaustion and fainting, excessive fainting, hotness of body, muscle cramps among many other effects of the heatwave. And it doesn’t even get better at night either. This is because the heat of the daytime seems to settle into the atmosphere and subsequently make sleeping at night unbearable as people’s homes get quite heated up. Without a heater of course.
A lot of cries and concerns have arisen from the citizens. According to the report gotten from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency – NiMet, we found out that the heatwave currently being experienced is as a result of a transition occurring between a mass of wet and moist air blowing through the country, following a North-eastern direction all the way from the Atlantic Ocean and a mass of dusty and overly-dry air blowing from the South-western direction of the Sahara desert. We’ve also gotten reports of temperatures as high as 38°C in some states in the country.
However, in the last 48 hours, several states in the country have recorded it’s first rainfall. This has been a welcomed development among citizens with those in states yet to experience it fervently hoping and praying for their own share of the rain. The idea is that the rainfall will help in cooling down the temperature, atmosphere as well as the ground, which will hopefully reduce the intensity of the heatwave.
Considering the intensity of the heatwaves, and it’s disastrous consequences on health, one can only try to prevent these consequences by following the measures listed below:
•Avoid staying directly under the scorching sun as well as high temperatures during the hottest period of the day, usually between 11am – 5pm.
•Wear loose-fitting and light-weight clothing, if possible, ones made of cotton. This is to aid the easier passage of air to your skin.
•Also make sure to cover up exposed skin as much as possible to avoid direct contact with the sun and prevent irritation.
•Employ the use of A.Cs, fans or any other cooling equipment available to you.
•Take lots and lots of water to always stay hydrated.
•Immediately seek medical attention if you notice any distress in your body system.
Hopefully, the heatwave will go down sooner than we think.