View Full Version : Stay cool Pacific Northwest
ApatheticNoMore
6-24-21, 1:04am
Heat dome!!! Scary :0!
Yes, not looking forward to it at all.
iris lilies
6-24-21, 12:00pm
We had the hottest June 18th on record last Feiday. Then, followed by lovely weather all week. It’s warming up now, but we had a respite from the crazy hot weather.
But honestly I didn’t mind the hot weather. I minded the weather about two weeks ago when we had super high humidity and it was just miserable. Yes it was hot, but the humidity was unbearable. And then the following day it went back to normal hot summer.
We rarely see 100, but 102 is predicted for later this week. My friend in the Willamette valley is looking forward to 111! And their power grid is shaky under normal conditions.
Simplemind
6-24-21, 9:28pm
We are just outside the Portland Metro area... I'm getting my gardening and dog walking done in the early and late hours. There are a couple of days were it won't get much less than 75 degrees at night. That is so not us in the land of trees and moss.
I've been making ice all day, and tomorrow early I'll top up the garden water. It's supposed to be record-breaking-hot here this weekend, and this is the coolest corner of the whole state.
dado potato
6-25-21, 10:30am
Forecast for Walla Walla June 29: high 112F, low 80F
Already there was one wildland fire in the grass along Highway 12 near Sudbury Rd. The county fire department put the fire out.
happystuff
6-25-21, 10:39am
With these high temps, stay safe, everyone! Hydrate well!!!
iris lilies
6-25-21, 12:02pm
Forecast for Walla Walla June 29: high 112F, low 80F
Already there was one wildland fire in the grass along Highway 12 near Sudbury Rd. The county fire department put the fire out.
We had 1.5 inches of rain last night, good to wet everything down. The mad chaos of illegal fireworks continues here in the ‘Hood.
Simplemind
6-25-21, 1:57pm
On the news last night at a local feed store there was a truck loaded with hay that spontaneously combusted. Everything went up in flames.
happystuff
6-26-21, 2:44pm
How's everyone holding up?
I'm staying hydrated, if not cool.
Just one challenge after another here at Chez Decay...:help:
Staying in my AC-cooled house with all drapes drawn. Go out occasionally to fill the birdbaths which are now basically drinking bars for the bees--although a fat robin took a bath early this morning.
Here's how it feels here:3840
Ha, Jane....I was reading your post and when it came to Chez Decay I said it aloud and it also sounds like Shady Kay! ;-)
Ha, Jane....I was reading your post and when it came to Chez Decay I said it aloud and it also sounds like Shady Kay! ;-)
If the shade fits...:D
Hillbilly-design swamp cooler with box fans is saving the day, a bit. 92 degrees here, an all-time high. It would typically be 65 degrees today.
Simplemind
6-26-21, 5:10pm
I was up at 6a getting the garden watered. We are topping off our koi pond with cool water and I put some milk jugs in the freezer to make ice to put in later. There is no shade on the pond.... Pulled out all the salad veggies today. I don't think they are going to make it. Big salad for dinner tonight on our way to 107 degrees.
Hillbilly-design swamp cooler with box fans is saving the day, a bit. 92 degrees here, an all-time high. It would typically be 65 degrees today.
Can you describe how to rig that up? We don't have AC, but it would be nice to be able go to one step further than our ceiling fans on really hot days.
Can you describe how to rig that up? We don't have AC, but it would be nice to be able go to one step further than our ceiling fans on really hot days.
Box fan. Large bowl of water in front of it. Large damp kitchen towel sorta draped over fan and dipped into bowl to wick up more water. Not effective for my large rooms, but is blowing nice cooler air over my desk chair area, lowering the temp ~12 degrees from room temp.
iris lilies
6-26-21, 5:29pm
Hillbilly-design swamp cooler with box fans is saving the day, a bit. 92 degrees here, an all-time high. It would typically be 65 degrees today.
I’m surprised the swamp cooler works for you where are. In order for this to be effective they require very very low humidity.
I’m surprised the swamp cooler works for you where are. In order for this to be effective they require very very low humidity.
A common misconception. They work "OK" up to "moderate" humidity. (Optimal performance is at < 50% humidity, and I started the day at about 36% outside, and my indoor humidity with the cooler running has now only just hit ~45%)
It typically is quite dry here in the summertime - so much so that we bumped up our fire danger levels the other day, and turned on the burn ban.
Usually 65 and now up to 92 degrees! It must be difficult in the cities not used to these temps.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uvlLjErrSQ8&feature=youtu.be
Excellent poor man's AC video.
happystuff
6-27-21, 9:16am
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uvlLjErrSQ8&feature=youtu.be
Thanks, KayLR! Good to know as we don't have AC.
Got up at 5:30 this morning to water and it was already nearly 80. 2 pm now, it's 111.
iris lilies
6-27-21, 5:54pm
A common misconception. They work "OK" up to "moderate" humidity. (Optimal performance is at < 50% humidity, and I started the day at about 36% outside, and my indoor humidity with the cooler running has now only just hit ~45%)
It typically is quite dry here in the summertime - so much so that we bumped up our fire danger levels the other day, and turned on the burn ban.
oh, ok. I had a swamp cooler in New Mexico 40 years ago. It’s funny that I didn’t know what it was and I probably lived there for a year before somebody told me what the switch on the wall was for..
Teacher Terry
6-27-21, 9:30pm
Our house had one here and it worked well in our low humidity. It was much cheaper than AC.
happystuff
6-28-21, 11:10am
When are these temps supposed to break for you all?
When are these temps supposed to break for you all?
Tomorrow the temperatures are predicted to plummet to the 90s. :(
happystuff
6-28-21, 11:18am
Tomorrow the temperatures are predicted to plummet to the 90s. :(
Oh man. Everyone take care.
They're still saying 113 for us here today. :(
iris lilies
6-28-21, 12:20pm
They're still saying 113 for us here today. :(erhm ma god!
Yuck. And I thought it was bad last week when we got up to 102 and 103 a couple of days. But at least we still got down into the low 60's at night. And now we're back to normal. 50's at night, 80's during the day.
ApatheticNoMore
6-28-21, 12:42pm
The temps are definitely above normal here, was in the 90s, but considering that's much cooler than Portland (!) and our scorching days are still no doubt to come, I can't really complain. We aren't being hit that hard yet. And more people probably have AC as hot is not unheard of.
Teacher Terry
6-28-21, 12:58pm
We will be 102 today. I waited until 8:30 to walk the dogs last night and usually it’s 80 by then. It was 95. We walked slowly and only half the distance. I really feel for those hotter. I remember when no one had AC. Very grateful for it!
Yeah. If I ordered a swamp cooler from Amazon, we'd probably never have another day over 80. :~)
So far, I'm just toughing it out, but I'm on my third quart of liquid and supplementing with electrolytes.
Teacher Terry
6-28-21, 9:45pm
Wow Jane that’s awful! I hate heat.
iris lilies
6-29-21, 8:51am
Yeah. If I ordered a swamp cooler from Amazon, we'd probably never have another day over 80. :~)
So far, I'm just toughing it out, but I'm on my third quart of liquid and supplementing with electrolytes.
Do you have a fan at least, a box fan or a floor fan?
Do you have a fan at least, a box fan or a floor fan?
I have a fan, but with this level of heat it's just blowing hot air around.
I survived this round; I have my windows open and the cool breeze is heavenly.
ApatheticNoMore
6-29-21, 11:14am
Oh yea at a certain level of heat a fan doesn't work at all, like when it's hotter than the human body temperature :~)
Much more tolerable today---now just mourning the flower garden and such. My Crocosmia had just begun blooming, now toast. This is west-facing sun scorch.
3841
All I can think is "wqw!!!". That is hot
Simplemind
6-29-21, 1:43pm
The temperature drop was amazing last night. 53 degree difference. We stood outside in the breeze and almost seemed frigid :cool:
rosarugosa
6-29-21, 4:06pm
Much more tolerable today---now just mourning the flower garden and such. My Crocosmia had just begun blooming, now toast. This is west-facing sun scorch.
3841
Oh no Kay, that is really sad.
gimmethesimplelife
6-29-21, 7:32pm
116F in Portland? I can't even begin to grasp this as a former five year Portlander in the 90's. What's really scary to me - Portland is a city that is rarely all that hot so very few people have AC there as for the most part, you can skid by without it, especially since those who own their property have basements there and it's much cooler in a basement. Glad to hear that cooling is on the way. Hang in there NW folks. Living in Phoenix we just broke a record two weeks ago - the most number of 115F or higher days in a row - 6!!! (former record was 4).
But this is Phoenix. Such is not so over the top and utterly unfathomable here - in Portland 116F is almost like go out and buy lottery tickets. Your chances of winning might be something like the chances of such a hot day in Portland. Rob
PS Came back to add - if it can get up to 116F in Portland now, 9 degrees above the former all time record before this heatwave began - there's nothing to stop it from getting up to 129F in Phoenix, which would be 9 degrees above our all time high. The concept of a climate refugee no longer seems so out there to me now. I can see such happening if this warming continues. Rob
Much more tolerable today---now just mourning the flower garden and such. My Crocosmia had just begun blooming, now toast. This is west-facing sun scorch.
3841
Oh no! :(
Yesterday I used my Fiat 500e electric vehicle, parked under a shady tree in my driveway, as my air conditioned office for most of the day. Worked great - comfortable seats, good stereo, cup holders, recharge outlets for my computers, lovely view.
The fact that the highest ever record, a temperature normally only seen later in the season, was broken not just by a degree or two, but by 9 degrees, is really scary.
The fact that the highest ever record, a temperature normally only seen later in the season, was broken not just by a degree or two, but by 9 degrees, is really scary.
Yep, it is. That's what I keep thinking about. Our normal is changing. Not saying we're going to continue getting these events, but we can't be shocked anymore.
We might see 100 degrees one or two days every summer, and often not even that, so this is definitely a change. And unless global warming allows me to grow an avocado tree in my yard, I don't welcome it. >:(
ApatheticNoMore
6-30-21, 1:04pm
Probably pretty much doomed. Canada, yes THAT far north, also recording two days in a row of record breaking heat. Few plants and animals in the existing ecosystem in the northwest will survive enough days like this. That burnt tree is the present and more of it the future it seems to me. And that ecosystem was glorious.
But as for humanity, as if one can say the word without a certain amount of disgust at this point, life is going to pretty awful, perhaps pretty soon. And at some point it moves beyond humanities ability to even influence of course (short of a geoengineering miracle), due to feedback loops and so on. Meanwhile noone with any power in this country tries, the Biden administration moves forth with fracking and building oil pipelines.
I don't believe anyone sentient can deny that global climate change is happening. I see the debate as being between those who believe something still can be done about it and those who do not want to change/don't believe we can change our lives enough to alleviate it.
I don't believe anyone sentient can deny that global climate change is happening. I see the debate as being between those who believe something still can be done about it and those who do not want to change/don't believe we can change our lives enough to alleviate it.
Or says, "who cares, I will be dead by then anyway". Apathy is a huge mountain to move. Even with the pandemic which is killing so many, politics, ineptitude, lack of committed resources, very poor leadership, lack of transparency, belief of invulnerability, etc., didn't move apathy until it was mandated by lockdowns. Then, self-centred individual rights activists screamed even as they demanded that healthcare and other services be continually provided. Few countries didn't suffer from this public apathy which is enemy #1.
Eventually like other issues impacting the 'commons', governments will need to take steps to legislate the public welfare to save our planet and life. I try to imagine the governments of the world working in concert...
ApatheticNoMore
7-1-21, 1:51pm
I suspect it's possible natural feedback loops have reached such a tipping point it doesn't matter what we do. Just bend over and kiss your @#$# goodbye as the saying goes. Short of geoengineering, and most techy geoengineering has little chance of working.
The thing is I don't know it's beyond all amelioration, and I'm not sure vastly smarter heads than mine know due to uncertainty.
So I certainly support doing something, anything one can, about it. But the political system here is pretty much completely broken on the national level (and not all that great on other levels either).
Although DeSantis and FL Republicans did this:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/floridas-remarkable-new-wildlife-corridor-from-the-panhandle-to-the-keys
DeSantis!! It doesn't mean I want him for our next president (although there is a real gap that a real eco-fascist could fill), but this is far more amazing than anything going on in states that are considered far more progressive (snort, all climate bills in CA are failing with a Dem supermajority)
ApatheticNoMore
7-1-21, 2:58pm
121 degrees in Canada
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/canada-sets-new-all-time-heat-record-of-121-degrees-amid-unprecedented-heat-wave/ar-AALv0aT
that's why I say quite likely doomed. But I'm your average midlife 40 something Gen Xer. Thus I have lived a fairly long life. Some not far from my cohort like my bfs friends have quite young kids.
When people say "who cares" they are really saying "I don't want to sacrifice anything to prevent this from happening."
It's like the smoker or the drinker who says "we all have to die from something, right?"
I am not hopeful things can stabilize, let alone turn around, before much of it becomes irreversible. I am thankful for all the people who are out there doing regenerative agriculture and trying to bring some wildlife back from extinction, and so many other things like that, but I think our whole system is contraindicated for effecting real change and therein lies the rub.
It's just plane hot! And there's no break. Some mornings we barely get into the 70s. 100s every day for 2w now and the next 7d as well.
It's all just hot! I suspect I'll get no food from the garden. Tons of flowers on my tomato plants, but those usually drop above 95F rather than fruit.
Have I said it's just hot?
We've been back to the normal 79-80 for a day or so.
dado potato
7-8-21, 7:53pm
On 6/28 when the temperature in eastern Oregon rose above 110F, nestling birds bailed out. Swainson's and Cooper's hawks, for example, with a body temperature of 110F, found the temperature within the nest intolerable and leaped into the unknown. Blue Mountain Wildlife advised concerned humans to start sprinklers near young birds on the ground. http://www.bluemountainwildlife.org
There is something about having grand-kids that makes one think about what we are leaving them to deal with.
dado potato
7-9-21, 2:15pm
Death count in Washington and Oregon is preliminary, because there likely are some people who have not been found after their death, for example, elderly persons who live alone or persons experiencing homelessness.
Year to date 7/8/2021 the state departments of health reported 78 dead in Washington and 107 dead in Oregon due to heat-related issues. The specific cause of death may include hyperthermia (overheating), or more frequently an underlying cardiac or respiratory condition that is exacerbated by heat.
For comparison, in WA in the 5 years 2015-2020 there were 39 deaths due to heat-related issues.
happystuff
7-13-21, 9:34pm
That is so sad. Be careful, everyone!
And now smoke from the wildfires is settling in cities on the east coast…
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/21/1018865569/the-western-wildfires-are-affecting-people-3-000-miles-away
ApatheticNoMore
7-21-21, 10:31pm
maybe it will get more media attention, ok the heat dome got media attention, but there is an east coast bias in what gets covered.
Now what we really need is a heat dome over D.C., heat dome went to the wrong Washington, maybe it would improve our congress, maybe Manchin (Rage Against the Manchin) would stop being in the pockets of big coal, well probably not, but nice to think about.
catherine
7-21-21, 10:48pm
These wildfires converging with climate change makes me think of the nun I had in Catholic school who said that the 3rd secret that the Virgin Mary gave the young shepherds at Fatima was that the world would be destroyed by fire. I don't think that this was the secret, which was revealed in 2000 so that nun must have made it up, but it's one of those childhood things that sticks in your mind for a long time, and now it actually seems relevant.
ApatheticNoMore
7-21-21, 10:52pm
I hold with those who favor fire.
rosarugosa
7-22-21, 6:42am
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice...
We're having haze. Weather guy says it is from the fires out west. We're in piedmont Maryland. About an hour and a half from DC.I dreamed that the woods behind our house were exploding in fire.
Teacher Terry
7-22-21, 12:19pm
The smoke is mostly going around us. So Carson city is full of smoke and 35 miles away and we have mostly been fine. I can walk the dogs most days. It’s weird.
frugal-one
7-22-21, 3:35pm
It was really hazy this morning. The news stations are saying it is because we are getting smoke from both Canada and the west coast. Health warnings have been issued.
It was really hazy this morning. The news stations are saying it is because we are getting smoke from both Canada and the west coast. Health warnings have been issued.
Double whammy for us, too. We've had health warnings for the past few days but they've expired. Blu-ish sky here once again.
dado potato
8-3-21, 10:31am
Fire and Smoke Map of the USA and Canada gives a view of the smoke plumes as well as the air quality at ground level. The data is updated every 15 minutes. Color-coded dots on the map indicate where smoke is unhealthy (and green dots where the air quality is OK.)
http://www.airnow.gov
Fire and Smoke Map of the USA and Canada gives a view of the smoke plumes as well as the air quality at ground level. The data is updated every 15 minutes. Color-coded dots on the map indicate where smoke is unhealthy (and green dots where the air quality is OK.)
http://www.airnow.gov
Interesting. I'm in the green, but apparently just barely right now.
Thanks for posting this!
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