The Level Four Heatwave

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We are heading into a Level Four heatwave for the next few days and now people will realise that replacing gardens with parking, and individual villas with apartment houses was a mistake. Now is when people will realise that tarmac gets hot during the day, and radiates heat at night.

Now is the moment that Nyon, and surrounding villages will realise that densification is a mistake, because, by removing grass, and trees, you remove dew catching grass, and shade producing trees.

Trees have another advantage. They perspire like we do. They might breath in CO2 during the day and exhaust it at night but they also release humidity into the air. The process is called transpiration. They release water during the day as well as at night, so they are natural humidifiers, helping to cool the air. That’s why cycling near forests, and especially rivers is great during a heatwave. They cool the area around them.

When homes and villages were built, with gardens, and trees, and nature to separate each other, they provided every home with a place to cool during a heatwave. Now, with the betonisation (urbanisation) and the turning off of fountains during droughts, and heat waves the sources of freshness are diminishing.

A heatwave is a fantastic time to be an early bird. It is at this time of year, and in this type of weather event, that being extra-early is extra-rewarding. If you wake early you run with 23°c. If you wake late you run with 32°c with a “feels like of 37°c, a stronger sun, and warmed up surfaces radiating heat at you. By waking early you might still feel the “heat” but nothing like the “heat” later in the day.

It makes sense, during the ever-increasing heat waves that cycling, running, and hiking, should focus on finding fountains, and after-workout swims. This afternoon I’m going for a run, and it will end with a swim in the lake, for those that want to end the run that way.

For as long as fountains are on, we can cool ourselves down. Once they are off we have to find rivers, and lakes.