Hot, hot, hot...

{Image from Stock Exchange}

At the moment, I am pretty sure that if you look up the word 'sweltering' in a dictionary 'Dar es Salaam' would be mentioned somewhere because an 'uncomfortable hot atmosphere' it definitely is at the moment. February on the equator is torture. Look its hot all year round but between December and March it is unbearable. The weather forecast for today, the 19th of February 2010 reads as follows; maximum temperature of 31 degrees that will cool down to 28 degrees in the evening(?) with heavy showers (that will either prevent the heat from escaping at night OR make it even hotter), this you might say is not that hot but don't forget the 65% humidity.

After moving to Tanzania I was introduced to the concept of 'Heat Index'. The heat index is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature — how hot it feels. So, 31 is not the temperature we feel...after calculating it (on a website not in my imagination) it is 36!

This is make-up melting weather. I am so hot some mornings I have to apply my make-up in the bathroom at work AFTER I have cooled down, and remember this is barely 8:30!

Flying back from South Africa it feels like a hot wet blanket is thrown over your head when you step off the plane, and this is 8 o'clock at night! Atleast it gets better, when its freezing down south we have mild, balmy evenings and glorious days.

On days like today you can feel and smell africa.

~maisha