Pipo dey complain of serious heatwave for Nigeria - wetin dey cause am?

"If pesin tell me say I go baff three times before daybreak, I no for believe am but I no know wetin else to do again, di heat too much!"

Na so Tonye Dennis wey dey live for Borokiri, Port Harcourt take describe di kain heat wey kontri pipo dey suffer for di past few days for Nigeria and oda kontris wey also dey on di coast of di Atlantic Ocean.

Normally for Southern Nigeria especially along di coastal cities, di period of January and February na di harmattan season wey be a hot, dry, dusty wind from di North to di South.

But di heat wave wey pipo for most parts of southern Nigeria don see don pass di normal harmattan.

Dis na becos pesin no fit tok weda na harmattan or anoda tin dey cause di humid heat.

Wetin dey cause dis heatwave?

Head of Geography department, Rivers State University, Prof Precious Ede explain say di cause of di heatwave wey kontri pipo dey suffer from fit be as a result of di El Nino ans La Nina whether patterns of di Pacific ocean.

E observe say di present situation na dat of harmattan wit a mix from wind from di sea as na wind from di sea wey dey carry enof moisture to make di weather to dey sticky.

“For pipo wey dey stay for Port Harcourt di weather dey very very hot becos we no get a clear-cut rain and we no get a clear-cut harmattan, na a mix of di two. Most time we go see small harmattan wey go qucikly comot within a couple of hours and den wen di wind from di sea come wit di high moisture content, we go begin feel dis discomfort.

Den for night, generally we already know wetin be land and sea breeze wey wey interchange and dis na im lead to di discomfort many pipo wey feel especially for do coastal areas.”

Prof Ede explain further say e get a weather system wey dey form for di Pacific El Nino and di opposite La Niña. 2024 na La Niña year and e dey predicted say e go last till June 2024.

“La Nina na a cooling of di Pacific Ocean around di Equator on di Pacific and from historical record, any time e be La Niña dis na serious disruption of weather di way we know am. Bifor na evri ten years but nowadays e don dey occur more frequently almost evri oda year and dat na becos di ocean current no wey follow do regular path dem suppose dey follow.

Secondly, di climate change wey already dey wit us na anoda reason so wen we get La Niña like e be so, we go get dis kain weather wey we get, so some places go dey too cold and some places go dey too hot dan normal, we dey experience di warmer part.”

Prof Ede say di one we dey currently experience na from La Nina - (La Nina na Spanish word wey mean di cooling of di ocean around di Equator on di Pacific) Dat cooling no suppose be so becos di Equator na warm place and most ocean currents around am dey warm.

So if di current now change to dey cool e mean say cold currents from di Coast dey come out to di Equator lower than di way dem suppose dey and if dat happen, e dey change all di weather patterns."

How long dis heat wave go last?

Di poor electricity power supply dey make do heat situation worse and dust dey maKe kontri pipo wonder how long wey dis heatwave go last.

Prof Ede say e no dey easy to predict how long di heat go be as pesin no fit predict weather for a long time on dat manner.

"Di only tin we fit hope na for di situation to change, say na for di warm ocean currents to return so dat enough moisture go dey lifted to cause rainfall becos irrespective of climate change and global weather system of La Nina, we still dey di period in di year wen we suppose get at least one rainfall evri oda week.

How pesin fit cope with dis kain heat weather?

Small pikin and elderly pipo na im dey most vulnerable and most affected by dis heat wave weather even though evri bodi dey suffer am for different degrees.

To come wit di weather, Prof Ede advise pipo to do di following:

1. Ventilate di environment. Open windows so air from outside fit cross di room.

2. Drink more water. As di heat dey make pesin sweet well well, e mean say di body need more water to replace di one wey dey comot as sweat so e sey advisable for pipo to drink more water than wetin dem dey used to.

3. No do too much exercise or anytin wey go make peson sweat too much. E advise pipo to moderate all these exercise so dem no go stress dia body system too much as w already dey stressed by do environment.

4. Wear light- material clothing like cotton so e go allow air touch di bodi.

5. Use air conditioner for pipo wey get am to use am cool ei bodi.