By Mary O’KEEFE

Well, the weather is center stage once again. First Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida on Wednesday. As of press time the hurricane continued to bring rain and high winds across the state before moving into Georgia where it downed power lines, and reports were made of several buildings being damaged by falling trees.

Idalia remained a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 85 miles per hour. In St. Petersburg, Florida there were reports of a four-foot storm surge with more water expected at the high tide later on Wednesday.

This storm brought winds, rain, storm surge and tornadoes to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. California sent at last 100 emergency responders to the area to support the local residents.

And, of course, here on the West Coast we are dealing with a lot of heat. As I was researching the heat waves that are moving across the nation I found this quote from National Public Radio: “About 52 million are under heat alerts throughout the Southwest, Southern California and the Pacific northwest this week.”

That quote was actually from Aug. 30, 2022 meaning these extreme heat conditions during the summer months are something we are going to have to get used to.

More than 106 million Americans from upper Midwest to the Gulf Coast are under various heat alerts as of Wednesday, Aug. 23, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

“Dangerous weather – intense heat and devastating rainfall – has impacted large parts of the northern hemisphere in this summer of extremes, causing major damage to the people’s health and the environment. Marine heatwaves are affecting large areas of the ocean,” according to WMO.

And it’s not just happening in America but extreme heat is being seen across the globe. China set a new national daily temperature in July and was hit by record-breaking rainfall at the start of August. Wildfires are being fought across the world, including in Algeria, Greece, Canada and the U.S. And fires, according to WMO, are burning in the Canadian Arctic.

“The extreme weather – an increasingly frequent occurrence in our warming climate – is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies. This underlines the increasing urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as possible,” said WMO Secretary General Prof. Petteri Taalas.

According to a study by climate scientists in the World Weather Attribution, without human-induced climate change these heat events would have been extremely rare.

This heat is something we have to get used to – not just remembering to hydrate and wearing light clothing – we have to get emotionally prepared.

Although conventional wisdom seems to lean toward a correlation between violence/aggression and summer temperatures, it is difficult to get the exact cause and effect when it comes to human behavior and high heat. There are several factors that may play into the aggression including a greater chance of alcohol consumption during hotter months. However, there is the heat hypothesis that states higher temperatures make people more aggressive.

Extreme heat can slow cognition and increase anxiety. Another study found a dip in cognitive performance at air temperatures of 79 degrees. Researchers found that as the temperature rose activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, the anti-stress system that can help us stay calm and relaxed, was lowered. Plus oxygen saturation levels in the blood were lower at the elevated temperatures as well, which researchers said could be expected to result in reduced cognitive performance, according to an article from NPR KQED on July 31, 2023.

I have noticed lately as the temperatures have risen I am tired and more salty than usual. I have seen more aggression on the roads when one driver actually honked and yelled at a student who was walking in the crosswalk with the light. Yep, what a good example as an adult: yell at a kid for obeying the rules. And if you find yourself at a four-way stop, you will need to bring all the patience you have in reserve because suddenly drivers go into a “pick-me, pick-me” mode in which they edge their cars just a little beyond the stop line, then wait until someone else edges up and then someone else until everyone moves forward until all three or four cars almost meet in the middle. And I have noticed that no one waves either; everyone just looks at each other waiting to get picked for the team that gets to cross the road.

People are generally cranky so maybe that’s why I feel so uplifted by simple acts of kindness and maybe this is why I notice them more during these very hot days – like when Rosemont Middle School students smile and say good morning as they walk into the Fire House youth center on Wednesday morning, students thanking us for breakfast as they leave for school, waiting for someone to back out of their driveway and having them smile and wave an acknowledgment, having someone say “I will take that” as they take my empty shopping cart back to the stall and just a simple smile from a passerby. Maybe we need to be more aware of how our heat affects us as the temperatures climb and challenge ourselves to be a little more kind despite the weather.

Our heatwave should be ending today as we head into the Labor Day weekend and see cooler temperatures. Today’s temperatures will be around 89 degrees then Friday it will drop to 82, Saturday and Sunday will drop even further with temperatures in the high 70s. Monday temps will tick up a few degrees to low 80s and Tuesday will be up again near mid 80s. There is a slight chance of monsoonal showers Friday and Saturday night, according to NOAA.