<p>1936 still holds most of the records in this part of the country, and in the midwest all the way to Canada as well. Global warming is real over the short span of a 150 years, and as an average. But, as they say, all weather, like all politics, is local.</p>
<p>If we don’t mow our grass once a week, it gets too long and gets fungus (brown spot, etc.) it has rained so much this summer, that our yard looks like a tropical garden. But, the heat feels oppressive, like a tropical forest, so it is hard to sit out and enjoy it. We installed a big fan out on our deck that helps in the evenings, it also has helped ward off the mosquitos that have also come in droves with the wet summer.</p>
<p>then again the growing season in Alaska- has increased from 80 days to 120 since the early 1900s- when records were first keptAs much of 40% of surface water has evaporated taking with it habitat for wildlife including migrating birds.</p>
<p>Canada also has concluded their warmest winter on record, almost balmy * for Canada*.
The Great Lakes remained ice free all winter.
And what do warmer winters bring?
bigger & badder mosquitoes
We are lucky not to have too many bugs around here, but I did buy some bug repellent even though I couldn’t bring myself to buy some with DEET. Hope I don’t regret it.</p>
<p>emerald, try Skin So Soft, by Avon. It works without bad chemicals.</p>
<p>Only 93 yesterday–that was the pool water. So refreshing. The air was about 10* hotter. High of 105 expected today. TG for iced tea.
S is working full time in a warehouse with no AC. One kid had heat stroke the other day. They are now starting earlier in the morning and taking water breaks every hour.</p>
<p>By Saturday it should be down to 85.</p>
<p>so why not mow in the evening, or as late as is allowed? its better than risking a heart attack</p>
<p>I feel for the farmers who have lost everything, the workers out in the fields, the city employees having to work in that heat…</p>
<p>We can joke about it, but people are dying</p>
<p>It’s our 10th (or maybe 11th) straight day of temperatures over 100 degrees but this happens every year where we live. I mow our lawn and my parents’ lawn every week, sometimes in the hottest part of the day. You get used to it … plus, the riding lawn mowers help.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/30/MNGEUK86BK1.DTL[/url]”>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/30/MNGEUK86BK1.DTL</a></p>
<p>I have lived in the same community for well over 30 years, and just based on “feel”, I know it is a lot hotter than it used to be. In this last heat wave in California, we lost over 125 people, mostly elderly, to heat-related factors. I guess that the midwest is now the one that is sweltering. It sounds like we have to accept that this won’t be the last one, not by a long shot.</p>
<p>I am not a scientist but I’m convinced enough to be very conscious of altering and reducing our use of energy. In our town we have the option of requesting the use of renewable energy for our electricity, which is a bit more expensive but not enough to be a deterrent so I just did that. I do believe that every little bit helps and guess I just wanted to urge others to do so too.</p>
<p>Its cooling off here- it does seems to still be pretty severe in some areas-
It is even raining!
Last weekend- why I originally started the thread- we went camping where it was 107-115</p>
<p>However, it ended happily.
The campground- while in a deserty area, was well watered, and had the plushest grass I had ever seen.
THey had planted poplars ( not enough) around the perimeter, to catch the breeze, and while we did have to go get tarps to make some shade- and I think I did get heat exhaustion, they had mist tents, and free showers.
It was actually quite pleasant to stand in the mist tent and talk to people from all over teh state and the country-Extreme weather makes people quite friendly :)</p>
<p>( of course I didn’t go to the concert until 2hours before so that I wouldn’t die in the heat- since the venue didn’t have the perks of the campground and as a consequence missed a good part of the show, because the venue miscalculated that so many would show up at the same time- so if you ever go to the Gorge plan ahead- but who would think 2 hours wouldn’t be enough time to go down the road a mile and stand in line- but OMG[Dirty</a> Frank!](<a href=“http://youtube.com/watch?v=4V-hFf6ZynA&search=dirty%20frank]Dirty”>http://youtube.com/watch?v=4V-hFf6ZynA&search=dirty%20frank))</p>
<p>we hadnt broken the record for that date.
THat one was in 1991 in seattle- I remember that all too well.
It was 99 in Seattle, and I had a gritchy one year old- she was gritchy anyway- and the heat, while it isn’t as remarkable as some parts of the country, for seattle was pretty unusual. OMG- so miserable
BUt at least I wasnt pregnant!</p>
<p>I feel bad for the older people, especially those who like my mother are living in a condo that has been * wrapped* for the past year. Her windows ( we don’t have air conditioning in the northwest)have been covered because they had to take all the exterior off of this “high end building”, and completely redo it, because the material they used wasn’t made for northwest weather.</p>
<p>I think renewable energy is a great thing- I notice more alternatives like windpower are being used- and I don’t even use the air conditioner in my car, because I worry about the ozone.
Our new neighborhood library even has a green roof as do some of the new condos they are building everywhere.</p>
<p>Trees are also a good thing- even though we have some neighbors who don’t like the mess of the decidous trees, they shade the house in the summer, and let light in in the winter.</p>
<p>From the Inconvenient Truth website, 10 things you can do…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.climatecrisis.net/pdf/10things.pdf[/url]”>http://www.climatecrisis.net/pdf/10things.pdf</a></p>
<p>Of course, that won’t keep US cool. But it might help keep our kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, etc., cool.</p>
<p>The same is happening in Europe (and air-con basicially doesn’t exist here). There is chronic drought in England and it’s been hot for weeks. Germany, Spain and France are even worse. The advice they give on TV is to have a cool shower in the evening and then sleep on the damp towels at night. Seems to work.</p>
<p>People are finally starting to become more energy aware ( [url=<a href=“http://www.pearljam.com/activism/carbon.php]Pearljam[/url”>http://www.pearljam.com/activism/carbon.php]Pearljam[/url</a>] is donating $100,000 to local environmental organizations to offset the damage done to the environment by their current tour )
I remember having to turn off the water in between soaping and rinsing my hair in the shower in the 70s during the water shortage-
{ anybody remember- save water - shower with a friend?)
We also keep the heat very low
I am still working on getting my H to take shorter showers- he spends more time in the bathroom than I do</p>
<p>I thought it was hot at home in SoCal, but today I flew to Minneapolis for a week of business meetings. Here in MN it’s a furnace.</p>
<p>It just seem so strange to me that it is hotter up north than it is down south. We’ve been in the low 90’s and usually in the summers by this time it’s pushing 100. We’ll have to see what it does in August. I remember a few years ago it was 108 when the kids started school and they had to cancel football practice because of the heat.</p>
<p>Only going to get worse it appears. This may be the impetus I needed to seriously explore more temperate climates:
<a href=“http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/01/MNGDAK90EK1.DTL[/url]”>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/01/MNGDAK90EK1.DTL</a></p>
<p>We’re experiencing a drought along with the high temps, so cotton and peach crops are suffering. Cattle’s being sold off earlier than usual, too. Lawns are supposed to be watered only twice a week, but there’s better compliance by homeowners than by businesses & govt. offices. We’ve had some power outages, but nothing too serious. We do any outside work before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m., including errands and grocery shopping. I watch for our weekly lawn service to take the guys cold Cokes since their water jugs aren’t all that refreshing by mid-day. Back when we homeschooled, I encouraged our kids to nap after lunch, even as teens, in order to enjoy being outside very early and very late. </p>
<p>I grew up in the deep south and we did not always have central air conditioning. We used to lay wet handkerchiefs on our necks & arms to cool down, sprinkled baby powder on ourselves & the bed sheets, drank lots of lemonade & ate lots of watermelon. My midwestern in-laws actually slept in city parks during the summer, along with other families whose apartments or homes didn’t offer any relief from the heat.</p>
<p>These days, I don’t bake in the summer and a lot of the cooking is done on the grill after 7 p.m. Dh & I often have salad for supper, augmented with eggs, cheese &/or cold meat. Roasted chicken and steamed shrimp from Publix are two splurges we enjoy this time of year. </p>
<p>We take very brief cool showers, and use a pail to catch as much of the run-off as possible. Dh installed rain barrels to catch water from our gutters that would otherwise run down the driveway. So far we’ve managed to keep our trees and shrubs alive. </p>
<p>Still, high 90s feels pretty miserable. I look forward to November.</p>
<p>
The heat in Europe is not new. I visited England as a 17 year old, and we faced drought and heat that was worse than what we had in Southern California. I remember we were asked not to flush unless absolutely necessary! I also remember growing up in Southern California, and it never failed that there was a heat wave in the first week of school. Since I attended Catholic schools, we had to wear wool jumpers, with no A/C in the school. Thank goodness for A/C now!</p>
<p>Here in Toronto, we had our mildest winter in 2006 since records have been kept and we’re heading toward our hottest summer overall. Temperatures in the past week have hit as high as 97, with the humidex readings at 117. This is virtually unheard of here, on a consistent basis as it has been this summer. Electricity consumption soared this week to all time record levels and our hydro companies have had to import power from the U.S. to keep up with it, which means when we get our bills in a couple of months, we’re going to faint! The city’s public pools are open til after midnight and the city has set up cooling stations in various areas in public buildings for the homeless and for those who do not have a/c. Thunderstorms this afternoon and tonight are supposed to sweep this awful heat away but now the news is that several tornadoes have been spotted in areas surrounding the city. Lovely.</p>
<p>Hooray!! It finally rained here and the temp will only be in the low 80s today with little humidity. Going to be a beautiful weekend.</p>
<p>On a different note: DDs office building in NYC was evacuated yesterday because they thought they would have a black-out or brown-out. Called them all back in-- it was really a fake-out!</p>
<p>Yesterday in Boston, the temperature dropped from 93 to 73 in one hour. This morning, it rained, so we are now nice and cool.</p>