I don’t know about you, but earlier this week I got to see some unseasonably warm temperatures in my area. It may only be the end of March, but I spent two days outside in shorts and a t-shirt due to some record high temperatures. Now, this happened last year as well so we have gotten a little spoiled with those warm spells. I can tell you right now, though, that I took full advantage of those days before the rain set in for the next full week.

One of the ways that I spent that nice warm weather was by washing some of my stuff outside. Over the winter I had collected a few things that needed to be cleaned but I didn’t want to do it inside my house due to the dirt and spray from the water that would occur. While I technically could have done it any day that it wasn’t snowing, I’m not sure of too many people who want to be outside in near-freezing temperatures with water if they don’t have to. While I was outside, I saw a large number of people washing their cars outside, seemingly happy to be able to once again. There was a certain pride that you could see on their faces that they were once again able to wash their own cars.

Not only is it a good thing to go outside when the sun is out and the temperatures are comfortable for your own health, it is also beneficial to wash whatever vehicles you may own in those weather conditions too. While the vitamin D coming from the sun is great for you, those sunbeams are also helping your vehicle dry and allowing water to go back into the atmosphere. The water cycle that we all learned about in grade school is something to look at in regards to this statement. We need rainfall, but to have that there must be a way for the water to get to the clouds. Evaporation is the main way that this happens and is incredibly important for the cycle to continue.

Washing in warm water not only helps the earth’s water cycle, but it cuts down on costs that you often see when you have to dry your vehicles with electricity. The next warm day you have, try letting your trucks air dry and see how much of a difference it makes!