SUMMER TIME: The number of hours when the ambient temperature is above the body temperature will be much more in June than in May.
By Steff Gaulter
It’s the final day of May, which means two things start tomorrow: June and summer. Given the temperatures we’re currently seeing in Qatar, you’d be forgiven for thinking that summer was already with us! After all, that sun is pretty relentless and the rain that we saw in the first few weeks of May now seems like a lifetime ago.
The start of summer, however, doesn’t depend on the weather. Instead most meteorological offices in the northern hemisphere simply class summer as the three months of June, July and August. Some people would rather define the summer by following the summer solstices and equinoxes, but these move slightly every year, which makes it rather impractical.
If you think that it’s already been hot for some time, then hold onto your sun cream because things are going to get even hotter in the coming weeks! The average temperature in May is 38.2C (100F), whereas the average temperature for June is 41.2C (106F). That’s only three Celsius difference, but it’s a significant change.
Recently I spent the day at Sealine Beach Resort. Needless to say it was a very hot day and I came away rather more pink than when I arrived. However, I noticed a huge change to the weather between 1pm and 2:30pm. It felt significantly cooler, the difference between horrifically hot and surprisingly bearable, but in reality I knew that the temperature couldn’t have dropped more than a few of degrees.
Why I had felt such a change became clear when I looked at the temperature readings for the day. At noon the temperature was 38C (100F), but by 2:30 it had dropped to 36C (97F). This is not a huge change numerically, but it’s a critical change, because it’s the difference between the temperature being above body temperature and below it.
It’s well known that a breeze on a hot day will cool you down. That’s because when you are hot, you sweat and a wind will help your beats of sweat to evaporate. It’s the evaporation that makes you feel cooler, because water requires a lot of energy to evaporate, and the energy used for this is taken from your body. However, if the wind is above body temperature, then it will act like a hairdryer blowing on your skin and will actually heat you up.
This is why I felt such a huge change in the weather when I was at Sealine. As soon as the temperature of the air dropped below 37.0C (98.6F), body temperature, then the wind could start to cool me down. This also explains why the difference between the weather in May and June is significant. With the average temperature being 38.2C and 41.2C respectively, then there are clearly more hours on an average June day when the temperature is above body temperature.
Unfortunately for all of us in Doha, these temperatures are just the average and some days are bound to get far hotter. On June 10, 2014 we spiralled to the dizzy heights of 48C (118F). That’s seriously hot, and even at night it’s not exactly cold. The average night-time low is 28C (82F). Let’s hope the air conditioning doesn’t break!
The saving grace of June is that the weather isn’t usually too humid, and a dry heat is always far easier to cope with than a humid one. If the air is laden with moisture, then extra water cannot evaporate into it very quickly. This means your sweat will evaporate slower and therefore your body will struggle to cool down.
The majority of June should be fairly dry, with just the occasional spike in humidity to warn us of what’s to come. A strong wind from the northwest keeps the humidity at bay and this air has spent a lot of time over the dry landscape of Iraq, so doesn’t contain much water at all. The air is so dry that it can even cause problems with chapped skin and sore throats.
The northwesterly wind is known as the Forty Day Shamal. It is often very strong and blows through June and even into the beginning of July. It does wane every now and then, but more often than not it will be with us and we should always be grateful for its presence; as soon as it eases, we’re in trouble. Without the Shamal, the wind can blow in from the east, and this is the wind which brings us humidity. The easterly wind is laden with moisture, making the hot weather feel even more uncomfortable.
Therefore as you’re being sandblasted by the wind in June, whatever you do, don’t complain; if it stops, the humidity will arrive, and you could well find yourself longing for the northwesterly wind to return.
