Thanks to global warming, this summer was noted as one of the hottest summers yet. Starting with Canada’s wildfires and blending into July’s heat waves, several people are concerned with the state of our Earth’s climate.
Despite the summer ending, temperatures rose from August 27 through September 3 over not only the east coast of the U.S., but also in the U.K., China, and northern areas of Africa. Though temperatures the following week decreased slightly in our area, the New York Times explains how the rest of the world is coping with the heatwave in the image above.
In D.C., the heatwave was at its worst the first week of September, which was the same week that a number of air conditioners at Arlington Career Center (ACC) broke. Although some were in the main building, most were in the trailers. If conditions were too warm for learning, teachers had to move their classrooms to rooms with working air conditioning, some moving up to around six different classrooms.
The school’s air conditioners don’t break often – in fact, the ACCCareer Center does not have to call in support more than once every school year to fix them. But when they do break, the front office contacts APS facilities management department. They have employees who work with HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) units, like our broken ACs. Meanwhile, the front office must maneuver the school’s master schedule to figure out the best place to relocate classrooms.
If you were in a classroom with a broken AC, which several of you were, be sure to thank the front office whenever you see an office worker for their hard work, and keep global warming in mind as temperatures are expected to rise this fall.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/world/global-heat-map-tracker.html
https://weather.com/forecast/national/news/2023-09-14-october-november-december-temperature-outlook
Thank you Mr. Mainor and Mr. Stephens for their interviews!
