The meteorologists of Weerplaza find it irresponsible to let the first day of the Nijmegen Four Days Marches continue, meteorologist Floris Lafeber of the weather bureau informed NU.nl on Saturday. It is expected to be 38 or 39 degrees in the Nijmegen area on Tuesday.
“Maybe it will even be 40 degrees on Tuesday,” says Lafeber. “38 degrees is already higher than your own body temperature.”
The high temperatures on Tuesday make it difficult to dissipate your own body heat, according to Lafeber. This can cause you to overheat. According to the meteorologist, it will be less warm after Tuesday.
Lafeber’s colleague Rico Schröder said on Friday in The Telegraph that it is irresponsible to start the largest walking event in the world. On asphalt roads the temperature could rise to 45 degrees.
‘At least bring up the start time’
Lafeber hopes that the organization of the Four Days Marches will in any case decide to bring the start forward to, for example, 2 a.m. Then the approximately 42,000 hikers will have to expose themselves to the extreme heat for less time. During the warm 2016 edition, the organization brought forward the start time and extended the end time.
The organization of the Nijmegen Four Days Marches organizes a press moment on Sunday afternoon to explain whether or not the walking event will go ahead.
In 2006, two people died during a sweltering edition of the Four Days Marches. The organization canceled the event immediately after the first walking day.
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