Suffering in a Hot Climate

Tagged with climate, philippines, united states, weather on February 5, 2024

I’ve had to suffer from the hot climate of the Philippines on more occasions than I care to remember. The most recent occasion was yesterday. It was a scheduled power outage, lasting for approximately 12 hours. It started a few minutes late and ended around 20 minutes early.

As far as power outages are concerned, I really can’t complain. Ever since the electric company was privatized, the days of random outages have long since passed. I rarely suffer from emergency outages, and even more rarely from scheduled outages.

It’s not supposed to be this hot this time of year, reaching 94 degrees Fahrenheit with more than 60 percent humidity. This is supposed to be the cool and dry season, lasting from December to February. I don’t know what happened to the weather, but I’m sure someone will blame it on climate change.

It’s going to get even worse next month, at the beginning of the hot and dry season. Relief may come in the form of the rainy season in June, but I won’t count on it. There was less rain last year than any year anyone could remember.

Hot Climate Suffering Elsewhere

The Philippines isn’t the first place I’ve suffered from a hot climate. I grew up in central Arizona, which is located in the Sonora Desert. Even though it was a “dry heat”, temperatures that soared above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer were still unbearable. I actually thought Hawaii was worse, when I moved there, until I got used to the higher humidity.

While I was in the military, I was stationed in Yuma, Arizona, (twice) which also has hot summers. Later on, I was stationed on the island of Okinawa in Japan. The climate of Okinawa is just as hot as the Philippines, which is only about two hours away by air.

Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment. I was stationed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1992. Two years later, I bought a house and my wife and I lived there until early 2006 (our children had already moved out). In my defense, however, I had an excellent central air conditioning system.

Filipinos Also Suffer

The previously scheduled 12-hour power outage occurred in 2023. Everyone in our compound ended up at the Harbor Point mall at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. It was crowded, like every other mall in the city. The beaches were also crowded.

We decided to ignore all the nonsense yesterday, stay home, and suffer through it. The problem with these long outages is that we also have water outages at the same time. Luckily, we were all smart enough to stock up on containers of water that would last much longer than 12 hours.

The heat was unbearable, for everyone. We don’t get much wind in this area, which is in the hills away from downtown Olongapo City. On the other hand, we don’t suffer from typhoons like other areas. The typhoons just tend to dump a lot of rain on us.

Acclimation is a Wonderful Thing

If you can stay in the Philippines long enough to acclimate to the higher temperatures and humidity, you can enjoy everything the country has to offer. I, unfortunately, never stay in the Philippines long enough to enjoy much of anything. By the time I acclimate, I’m leaving for someplace in the United States again.

Image by Andreas from Pixabay