When It Rains, It Doesn’t Always Pour

By Sonja Chai
For those of us who traveled to Singapore from places with actual seasons, the prospect of warm weather was exciting. This was particularly true as we anticipated with dread the upcoming winter—cold rain, biting wind, and gray skies for months on end. However, even for those who attend school in similarly hot climates, the weather in Singapore has presented itself as something to get used to. ECOSOC Delegate of Kazakhstan Tyler Penney is here from the American School of Doha, and pinpoints the main difference between the weather in Singapore and that in Qatar as the humidity. “It’s hot and dry [there].”As soon as we left the airport, it was apparent that being here was somewhat like being in a sauna. Indeed, the BBC describes the “level of discomfort from humidity” here as “high” for every month, other than July, in which the level of discomfort from humidity is “extreme.” Security Council Deputy President Yihan Tan remarked that her glasses “[were] fogging up” because of the humidity. Given the number of bespectacled delegates attending the conference, this cannot have been a singular occurrence.While acutely difficult to bear when outside, most places have taken measures to make it comfortable inside, which somehow makes being outside much easier to bear. Secretary General Sanam Kader’s strategy for beating the heat: go outside to warm up, and stay inside to cool down. She remarks that the rain and humidity are rather inconvenient, particularly as someone who must walk from forum to forum fairly often. She mentions “dealing with rain and puddles and soggy grass . . . makes it difficult to navigate the campus.”There are indeed signs in a multitude of places around this colossal institution that report that the sidewalk is “slippery when wet.” For girls balanced on heels and juggling briefcases, papers, and umbrellas, the wet, uneven cobblestone-like walkways present themselves as a formidable opponent. The humidity here also “affects delegates because they worry about their hair,” according to Secretary General Kader. The rain is another issue. As these words are creeping oh-so-slowly onto the page, at this very moment, the sun is shining and it’s humid as usual. The last two days however, have been rainy, most often a steady drizzle that pushed the humidity level unbearably high. According to Michael Wang, Delegate of Columbia in GA2, “It feels like I’m swimming” as he walks outside. Average monthly rainfall here, according to the BBC, never dips below 170 millimeters and is much higher for the months of November and December, Singapore’s monsoon season. All the rain is beneficial to Singapore though, as it is a country that must import half of its water supply and relies on rainwater to provide the other half. This tropical rainforest environment does make for a much greener city that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. For example, in Shanghai, the only green grass encountered will probably be a little patch in a public park no one has allowed to step on. Apparently the body’s natural cooling system, perspiration, only works effectively if sweat can evaporate, which tends not to happen in a humid environment. This therefore makes it a lot easier to overheat and suffer from mild forms of heat-related diseases in humid environments, although anyone would be hard-pressed to overheat when sitting in an air-conditioned forum.