Saturday, July 14, 2012
It's not the heat, it's the humidity.
News item: Sidewalks in Cheney, south of Spokane, are buckling this summer.
The daily highs this year are slightly below typical, so you can't blame 'heat' as such.
As mentioned before, this summer is unusual in the source of the heat. Instead of the usual desert air, we've got icky sticky Missouri air. With the usual Arizona air, nights cool down to 55. With St Louis occupying the area, nights only get down to 70. Much harder to sleep, and my air-conditioner has to work a lot harder with limited success.
Cement is a fairly slow absorber and releaser, so the accumulation of heat over a couple of weeks is bound to be greater when there's no release at night.
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Bit later: I went downtownish to the NW Blvd Safeway this morning, as usual on Sat. The difference was dramatic. Typically downtown is a little bit warmer than my part of town; this morning, with St Louis firmly in control, it's A LOT WARMER. Absolutely oppressive. Is UHI stronger with high humidity?
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Afternoon: I think one of the squirrels has been overcome or stroked by the heat. I looked several times from 3PM to 6PM, and he's been sitting sideways on top of a fence. He moved to different spots on the fence, but still sits in an odd position. I don't know specifically how squirrels get out of heat; most mammals seek shade and dig a little hole. There's good shade under a bush exactly below where he's sitting, and squirrels are certainly good diggers. Not much I can do about the poor critter.
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7/20: We've had this Midwestern swamp for three weeks now. Big storm coming this aft, and we may finally break out of the swamp after that, with at least a week of normal Spokane summer predicted. Just noticed another Missouri thing: Crickets! Presumably they're always around here in small numbers, but I've never heard them before. They must need temperature + humidity to start singing. ¶ 4:31 AM
The daily highs this year are slightly below typical, so you can't blame 'heat' as such.
As mentioned before, this summer is unusual in the source of the heat. Instead of the usual desert air, we've got icky sticky Missouri air. With the usual Arizona air, nights cool down to 55. With St Louis occupying the area, nights only get down to 70. Much harder to sleep, and my air-conditioner has to work a lot harder with limited success.
Cement is a fairly slow absorber and releaser, so the accumulation of heat over a couple of weeks is bound to be greater when there's no release at night.
= = = = =
Bit later: I went downtownish to the NW Blvd Safeway this morning, as usual on Sat. The difference was dramatic. Typically downtown is a little bit warmer than my part of town; this morning, with St Louis firmly in control, it's A LOT WARMER. Absolutely oppressive. Is UHI stronger with high humidity?
= = = = =
Afternoon: I think one of the squirrels has been overcome or stroked by the heat. I looked several times from 3PM to 6PM, and he's been sitting sideways on top of a fence. He moved to different spots on the fence, but still sits in an odd position. I don't know specifically how squirrels get out of heat; most mammals seek shade and dig a little hole. There's good shade under a bush exactly below where he's sitting, and squirrels are certainly good diggers. Not much I can do about the poor critter.
= = = = =
7/20: We've had this Midwestern swamp for three weeks now. Big storm coming this aft, and we may finally break out of the swamp after that, with at least a week of normal Spokane summer predicted. Just noticed another Missouri thing: Crickets! Presumably they're always around here in small numbers, but I've never heard them before. They must need temperature + humidity to start singing. ¶ 4:31 AM
