Is the Beach considered a Desert?

 I could reply with a one word answer to that but I need to expound on the differences first.

My friend recently just came from the Middle East, in and around the desert regions of Dubai. According to him, the streets were scorching during the mornings most especially in the height of the afternoon. Houses had air-conditioning so you didn’t feel the difference indoors. During the night, the air changes—everything becomes icy, almost as scalding as afternoons but only with cold.

I however, in the most recent summer, availed a Boracay hotel package and went. It was hot (weather and ambience wise) at the beach; hot sun, warm beach breach, hot bodies left and right—hot. Just, hot. It was, as I’d imagine, not as hot as the desert; a sustainable kind of heat, that is. Although, with the setting of the sun and the length the night, because Boracay is all about the night life, the temperature never let up. Only around 4am but only up to about 7am did the air become cool and I know this because we never went to sleep.

Why is this? They’re both desert looking, right? Why do their temperature patterns differ?

One key point is their definition. Beaches are places where the sea meets the earth. Deserts, however are defined by barrenness and dryness. Keyword: dryness.

Deserts have fluctuating and extreme temperatures because there is very little water (precipitation) in the air as opposed to a beach. Since water has a very high constant temperature, the lack of precipitation in the air means that the temperature will rise or drop instantaneously from sun heat or wind temperature alone. The heat in Boracay is constant because of the water in the air; the heat only last as long as there’s a source. Even the Arctic is called a desert because the precipitation has turned into unusable ice.

So the next time you go to the beach and the heat gets to you, don’t go for a second think that it’s like being in the desert.

This article was brought to you by: Last Minute Travel Booking

Read More