IS THERE a difference between hot and humid?
I’m asking this question because the current weather has got me confused. Or is it the tequila talking?
According to the weather bureau Pagasa, May is the hottest month in the whole country with a mean temperature of 28 degrees Centigrade.
It doesn’t matter where you are—whether in Laoag in the north or Zamboanga in the south--the temperature is basically the same. It only varies when you go high up in the mountains, which explains cooler temperatures in places like Baguio City, which has an elevation of 1,500 meters.
I get that. Really. I mean, hot is hot.
But what boggles me is its companion, humidity. You know, the moisture content in the atmosphere that is responsible for everyone’s current misery and rising laundry bills.
How ironic is it to have so much water in the air and yet hardly any running water in some part of the metro.
What say you, Metropolitan Cebu Water District?
This ranting may sound like “I-don’t-know-how-I-got-home-last-night-because-I-was-so-freaking-wasted-and-I-cannot-for-the-love-of-writing-think-of-a-sensible-topic-to-tackle-because-my-mind-is-like-mushed-jelly.” Hey, maybe it is, but it doesn’t change the fact that we are victims of geography.
Unfortunately, we live in one of more than 7,000 islands, which means wherever we go we are surrounded by bodies of water.
Now, add in a dash of high temperature and you have a recipe for a high relative humidity.
That explains the trickle of sweat that forms at the base of your armpit that slowly makes its way down the side of your body while you’re sitting still. Doing nothing.
Trust me. There is no letup. According to Pagasa, “the combination of warm temperature and high relative and absolute humidities give rise to high sensible temperature throughout the archipelago.”
I don’t know who wrote this drivel on Pagasa’s website, but there is nothing sensible about this weather.
It then concludes that “it is especially uncomfortable during March to May, when temperature and humidity attain their maximum levels.”
You think? I swear, Pagasa wins hands down for understatement of the season.
Then several nights ago, the heavens opened up and all hell broke loose. Several parts of the metro were suddenly inundated by floodwater, including the SunStar office on P. del Rosario.
I waited for the water to subside but it was already past 1 a.m. I had to get home. I was getting thirsty, I meant, sleepy.
Of course, it was but a brief respite and hot and humid returned with a vengeance come sunup.