Several people have asked me whether what we have been experiencing in Metro Manila for at least 2 weeks can be considered as a "heat wave". Since I teach a bit of meteorology and climatology for freshies on Environmental Science 1, I had to dig up my notes and find out what the definition of heat wave is. There is no fast and clear numerical rule for determining what a heat wave is. It is relative. For instance, in Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Sweden, three days of consecutive 28 c weather is officially considered as a heat wave by their meteorological agencies. In these northern European countries where people are used to summer temperatures peaking at 21 C, this is indeed unbearable. Visitors to London from the Southern United States laughed at a Times headline that went "London SIZZLES in the 70s . Southerners are used to having temps that reach above 100 F. In the Southern United States, two days of excessively hot weather is considered a heat wave. Th...
"It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved" - Galileo