By SHARON O’MALLEY
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Going out of your way to find a shady path to walk on or opening an umbrella on a cloudless day to keep the sun off your face could not only make you more comfortable, it could keep you safe during a heat wave.
Climate experts at the University of Maryland (UMD) told College Park Here & Now it’s important for anyone who ventures outdoors to take precautions on unusually hot days, and it could be critical for those who suffer from asthma, or heart or kidney issues.
“It may even be worthwhile to go slightly out of your way to make sure you are walking in a comfortable space,” said Chester Harvey, director of the Transportation Policy Research Group at UMD’s National Center for Smart Growth. “Or things like carrying water or carrying an umbrella to shade yourself. This is something that’s fairly common in other countries — carrying an umbrella not for rain, but for shade.”
July was the second-hottest month on record in Baltimore, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), with an average temperature of 82.2 degrees. Temperatures reached 100 degrees or higher on half of the days in July. And heat indexes along the Chesapeake Bay reached 110 degrees at least once last month, the NWS reported.
That record is a textbook example of what climate experts classify as a heat wave, said Amir Sapkota, a professor and chair of UMD’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, who focuses on how climate change affects human health.
“When these unusually hot days happen together, two, three, four at a time, that’s what we call a heat wave,” Sapkota said.
That level of heat is harmful in multiple ways, Sapkota said.
“Heat is a killer,” he said. “Heat stroke, heat exhaustion … those are easy to see and it’s immediate. But that’s not the only thing. There are so many other … indirect impacts.”
Prolonged bouts of stifling heat, Sapkota said, increase ozone concentration, which can irritate the lungs and trigger shortness of breath, coughing and lung infections. It also promotes drought, which contributes to wildfires, which produce pollutants that can travel for thousands of miles and irritate those who suffer from respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.
Even healthy people can fall ill during a heat wave, said Sapkota, who recommended drinking extra water, minimizing outdoor activity during the sunniest and hottest parts of the day, and seeking out air-conditioned indoor spaces.
Harvey said workers who commute to their jobs should consider public transportation, which typically is air conditioned, or even drive their air-conditioned cars to keep themselves safe and comfortable, even though that might not be the best choice for the environment.
For those who walk to a bus stop, finding a shady path and a covered shelter to wait under are key ways to stay out of the sun.
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“People need to take care of themselves,” Harvey said. “If that means that the only safe thing to do during a heat wave is to drive, then that’s what they need to do. We need to realize that people have limited choices and can’t always make [environmentally conscious] decisions in terms of what to do in a heat emergency.”
Still, drivers can make fewer trips, combine errands with their commute and request telework days to reduce their mileage and their greenhouse gas emissions, Harvey suggested.
Most important, Harvey added, is for everyone to “recognize that it is dangerous. It’s a real threat. It can make you sick. … It’s not something to just take lightly. Heat exposure can be a danger to your health.”
He added: “We all tend to think that we are immune to” heat-related illnesses, “that it is not going to happen to me. It’s for someone else. They are weak. But it can happen to you. It can happen to your family.”
