Cooler weather less dangerous to a person’s health, says health expert
Toronto has yet to issue a heat alert this year, in a summer that is decidedly much cooler than the two previous years.
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While you’re sitting outside in your pants and long-sleeve shirt, pining for the muggy Toronto summers of the past, consider this: the cooler weather is much better for your health.
Toronto Public Health has yet to issue a heat or extreme heat alert this year, with the temperature averaging 18.6 degrees Celsius, and no cooling centres have been opened. If that number remains at zero by the end of the summer season in September, it could very well be a first in Toronto’s history.
Last year alone, when the temperature averaged 19.4 degrees Celsius, TPH issued seven heat alerts between May and September and six extreme heat alerts. Then of course there was the incredibly humid summer of 2012, when the temperature averaged 20.8 degrees Celsius, and 12 heat alerts and nine extreme heat alerts went out.
“This summer in Toronto is actually quite normal, but compared to the last two years, it’s really been a bummer… and stands out like a totally different climate,” said Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.
Toronto’s medical officer of health issues a heat alert when the forecast weather conditions “suggest that the likelihood of a high level of mortality is between 25 and 50 per cent greater than what would be expected on a typical day,” and an extreme heat alert goes out when the likelihood of a high level of mortality goes above at least 50 per cent, according to the city’s Hot Weather Response Plan.
A heat alert means a notification is sent to the public to keep cool, with a focus on protecting vulnerable groups like the homeless. In the case of an extreme heat alert, the city opens its seven cooling centres, providing water and snacks.
City spokeswoman Wynna Brown said the cost incurred for operating cooling centres last year was just under $17,000. She said the costs are included in the overall budget of the Office of Emergency Management, and “if not required for this purpose they are allocated to other priorities.”
Cooler temperatures mean there will be less smog and fewer pollutants in the air that can be dangerous to a person’s health, particularly those already suffering from heart or respiratory problems, said Monica Campbell, director of healthy public policy at Toronto Public Health.
“In general, as you have warmer temperatures in the summer and when you have more sun, what that will do is it will result in the formation of more ozone,” she said.
Campbell said ozone levels are creeping up steadily in Toronto and throughout Ontario. Along with nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter, pollutants that can be emitted from cars and coal-fire plants in the U.S., ozone can lead to a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes, and is breathed deep into the lung tissue, she said.
In terms of respiratory problems, greater air pollution can lead to emphysema, bronchitis and asthma, said Campbell, adding that the people most at risk are seniors and people with underlying health conditions. Warmer temperatures also lead to a greater use of electricity to power air conditioners, which in the United States can cause more pollutants to be emitted from coal-fire plants and make their way north of the border, said Campbell.
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