Summertime in Windsor without air conditioning means health risks and doing whatever it takes to stay cool
Feeling a bit stupid this summer? You are not alone. Across Canada, people say they really feel the heat, especially in their homes. And we follow it. CBC teams have installed temperature and humidity sensors in dozens of homes in several cities, including Windsor, to see what happens to people when things go from hot to sizzling to seriously dangerous. This is one of those stories.
The air is thick as butter in your lungs, with beads of sweat forming immediately upon exposure to the strong sun.
It’s a typical, albeit slightly hotter, June afternoon in Windsor, Ontario, even with some clouds in the sky.
At noon, the line outside one of the city’s food banks begins to clear, with a handful of recipients waiting for the bus or hesitantly turning to walk home.
That walk, a harder ride than usual in the burning air.
For residents without air conditioning, returning home after a necessary errand like these could mean even warmer, more humid temperatures.
Gregory Walton, 51, was among the crowd that day, knowing that as soon as he got home he would implement his routine of strategically placing fans throughout his apartment and opening or closing his windows (depending on the time of day and how his apartment was retaining heat at the time).
It’s a methodology he developed out of necessity, but he says he’s lucky to know about it.
“I’m a jack of all trades,” says Walton, an electrician currently looking for work.
“I’ve done other jobs all my life, so I kind of understand how heat is retained by concrete and plaster and stuff.”
“So I’ve been able to draw my own conclusions, like ‘OK, I need to put a bigger fan in here, and I might have to keep the window open longer here to ease some air passage.'”
Walton is one of the Windsorites who has agreed to participate in CBC’s Urban Heat project this summer, which will allow our team to collect hard data on the temperature and humidity in his apartment and track the impact high temperatures can have on the mental and physical health.
Walton lives on the fifth floor of a 1960s brick building. All its windows face west. And with plaster walls and a cinder block ceiling, the conditions are ripe for heat retention.
“When it gets hot in here, the walls and the floors and everything add to the overall heat level. There’s no room in my apartment for a transverse hallway,” he explained.
“And so that’s another thing I’m dealing with.”
Windsor resident Greg Walton shows his apartment in West Windsor, how heat enters and stays, and how it stays cool.
For many in situations like Walton’s, the biggest barrier is the investment associated with having an air conditioning unit, which can be out of reach on a budget.
“When I signed my lease, my landlord informed me that I could have an air conditioner installed in my apartment for an additional $100 a month,” he said.
“I don’t have an air conditioner to begin with… I would have to buy one on top of that cost. It’s just not worth it economically to have to pay [for].”
Windsor is Canada’s southernmost city. Sitting at the 42nd parallel, it is so far south that it aligns with cities like Rome and Barcelona across the Atlantic Ocean. It is nothing new to the locals that the temperature can rise to 40 degrees or more with the humidity reading. It makes having air conditioning less of a luxury and more of a necessity.
“Those high 30s, low 40s are kind of hard. Basically, I have to have all my windows fully open, all the fans running all the time, just to keep air flowing through my apartment,” said Walton.
According to our measurements in Gregory’s apartment, there have now been nights in mid-July where the temperature has reached internal temperatures of up to 32 C with 50 percent humidity.
And according to some experts, this can have serious health consequences.
Glen Kenny is a researcher at the University of Ottawa who has studied the impact of rising temperatures on human health, especially for vulnerable populations such as the elderly or those with chronic diseases.
His lab is home to the world’s only direct air calorimeter, a specialized device that measures heat stress on the human body.
“[Temperatures between] 26 and 31 degrees become risky for some older adults,” Kenny said.
“Everything may feel good, but what you’re not seeing is dysfunction, cellular dysfunction.”
According to Kenny’s research, human cells can self-destruct after long periods of heat stress.
“It gets worse when you get to 31 degrees. The cells are under stress, and when the cells are under stress, they can’t do their job of maintaining structure, cleaning things up, making sure everything is functioning normally So we’ve begun to see [that] slow breakdown.”
Walton has no serious health problems, but the hot summer weather still affects his daily life in other ways that could be of concern over a long period of time.
“When the summer months come, I only sleep about five or six hours a night on average. And I do heavy manual work, so I really need my rest.”
According to Walton, those consecutive heat days are even more problematic, leaving him feeling more irritable and just wanting a good night’s sleep.
“The heat makes me spicier, more aggressive.”
“You’re sweating all night, you’re sticky, it’s just not comfortable. Especially when you’re trying to get your rest and you’re constantly having to change your t-shirt, or drink some cold water, or splash your water.” face, or make the fan stronger.”
For the week of June 26, 2023, Windsor, Ontario, was home to not only high temperatures, but also one of the worst air quality ratings in the world, due to smoke from wildfires in northern Ontario and Quebec.
“The wildfires that coincided with some really hot days made it practically unbearable,” Walton said.
“I couldn’t help it because I need to ventilate my space. At one point I just had to go outside because it was too hot here.”
Despite the pressures of his daily life, Walton has learned to adapt.
“If it gets really bad, I can always take a walk by the river and cool off. So there are alternatives to just sitting in my house and roasting.”
“Maybe you move the fan. Maybe move closer to the window. You have to do a little magic and find your comfort zone.”
Throughout the summer, CBC News will continue to share stories from families who agreed to participate in our Urban Heat project in Windsor.
