The Heat

[Amy in Vermont]

We ain't used to this here in Vermont:

http://community.middlebury.edu/~aehoffma/Images/recordtemp.jpg

[Agnes]

We got some very welcome rain today :) Been in the 90s and 100s for weeks. The rain, however, didn't come down gentle... So now I'm stuck with a leaking roof (no, I didn't move in with Dee :p) - but at least the temp's back to normal now.

[ponytail]

It's 94 degrees here, but feels like it's over 100. I'm not venturing outside today till my partner comes home with the car.

When I was young and svelte I loved hot weather. Now I love air conditioning. :cool:

[Dee]

Well you could move in if you want Amy, but it's hot here too. Thankfully the roof hasn't leaked recently. We had the worst lightning storms of the season so far overnight. The power went out for a couple hours, so no a/c and not even a fan. That was fun. They're also calling for more storms tonight.

Right now it's 35°C (95°F) in Ottawa but feeling like 48°C (118°F).

Jim who loves the heat even finds this too much.

[david uk]

we had the same in the UK... it went from swelteringly hot to autumn weather in the last few days ... the weather is crazy these days...

[Denise]

Hey Dee - what's the easiest way to "ballpark" what the Celcius degrees are in Fahrenheit? A friend said that you double the Celcius # and add 32. But that makes it higher than the real conversion. Just curious if there was a simpler way....just to get the "approximate" Fahrenheit figure.

[Dee]

Yikes! Me? Math? :eek: LOL

I use this (http://www.intmed.mcw.edu/clincalc/wtmeas.html) handy dandy Calculator myself. :cool:

[Amy in Vermont]

Fahrenheit to Celsius
http://www.albireo.ch/temperatureconverter/c.gif
Celsius to Fahrenheit
http://www.albireo.ch/temperatureconverter/f.gif
so its not quite double plus 32

By the way:

http://community.middlebury.edu/~aehoffma/Images/hotter2.jpg

[Dee]

Your 118°F is the same as ours, Amy!

You sure you don't live next door?

:)

[Denise]

So I guess the doubling plus 32 is not so bad - a little over but easier to ballpark it quickly without all that calculations in your head! And I'm actually quite good in Math! Thanks for the info Amy!

I just went outside and there is a HUGE difference between this morning and what it's like out there now! Wow!
Supposed to surpass 100 in my area tomorrow too! Yeeks!

Stay cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eva]

Oh Amy, that maththing is giving me a headache! I don't even understand what you are trying to show us... :( I don't have a head for numbers. I am better with languages.

Anyway... I want the heat back!!!

Eva

[DaveM]

It's certainly been plenty hot here....am having one heck of a time with my conscience. Torn between having breathable air in the house and conserving electricity by not running the air conditioners. Finally compromised: have set the thermostats just below 80 (80 at low humidity is really pretty comfortable) and run them only on low (which makes an air conditioner far more effective as a dehumidifier). At night, the downstairs unit is shut off--sometimes the upstairs one as well. I guess I can live with it.

The locally-owned power plant in the next town over essentially blew a gasket several days ago due to high demand and the fact that parts of the equipment date from the 19th Century. Supposedly it is now repaired, but the radio is full of warnings for people in that area to keep their electrical use down and be aware of possible rolling blackouts/brownouts.

Five miles away, and hooked up to a completely different power company, which charges half as much per kilowatt hour as the one that caught fire on Friday, I remain ill at ease. It's only a matter of time before the other company decides to beg borrow or steal electricity in any way it can, and we all know who will end up paying for it.

Personally, I'd let them bake in the dark. That particular town was told during the 1970s that its power plant was in need of replacement and in 1999 received a takeover offer from a far larger utility which would have meant more dependable service and lower prices. They ignored the former and turned down the latter. Since then, millions have been poured into the rickety old operation, and they STILL can't keep it running (a squirrel blew out the service to half the town for an entire day not long ago). Some relief may come when an under-construction biomass-fueled plant (your tax dollars at work) comes online next year....maybe. Meanwhile, the local newspaper refers to the budding wasteland as "a shining gem of classic engineering".

I think they need to clean their glasses better. Which may not be easy, since the newspaper office is generally downwind of the coal-fired power plant.

[Rkitko]

I think all ya'll need to take a trip and visit the wonderful land of the Pacific Northwest (you too, Janis!). Daily highs have been the 70s (Tomorrow, high of 78° F) and nightly lows have been in the 50s (It's 56° F out there right now).

There's room for all of you :)

[Dee]

I have been keeping off all appliances, just my a/c and a fan and one light at the moment, still Ontario reached its highest amount of energy consumption ever at 2 pm yesterday.

At four in the morning it's still 38°C or 100.4°F.

This isn't summer any more, it's summer plus!

[jenny]

..... miserable heat..... I have been busy for the past two days making sure my neighbors cats have water and make out ok.... they DO NOT take care of them.. they are pretty much mine because I feed them, I spayed them both, take them to the vet for shots, etc... but these past two days have been aweful. I have even been coming home at 7pm on my dinner break to change their water and give them some food... I have three bowls I have been putting ice in several times throughout the day... put a tarp in the back yard and the baby will usually go there because there is dirt under the tarp and usually is cool, but luke warm in this heat. Momma usually ends up on the neighbors porch, but neither one are really getting any rest but at least I am making sure they are ok... makes me so blame mad when people have pets that don't take care of them... it is NOT fair to the animal... I have bought two pop up "dog" ( don't tell them it is for dogs) kennels, that I may try on them today and see if they behave in the house at least until I go to work.. I have a cat that is a inside cat and I just can't bring the other two in... the baby would probally get along with mine but momma wouldn;t .. they are too much a like.. queen bees ya know.. so hopefully after today and tomorrow they will get some relief... I worry so over them.... I just love them to pieces..... Jenny

[Melba]

Its been in the mid nineties for the last 4 days and the humidity has been around 60-77%....yuck. We do not have central air and our house and it has been very hot. I put ice cubes in our kitties water dish and they have resorted to laying on the stairs by the back door where the cool air from the basement soothes them. We do have an air conditioning unit in the bedroom window, so at least we are comfortable when we are asleep....:) But during the day just about every fan in the house is on. My mom's refrigerator decided to die yesterday in her humid house, so I ran over there with coolers to take her frozen stuff so she wouldn't lose it all. We gave her our old a/c unit for her bedroom earlier this summer or by now she would be having an awful time....she has heart problems and the high humidity is very hard on her.
There looks to be relief after tomorow when the cold front clashes with this heat wave and we will probably seem some storms. Our power was off for 3 hours last night, probably due to an overload. Nothing to do but sit on the porch with a few citronella candles and sip a few beers ;)

[Eva]

Nothing to do but sit on the porch with a few citronella candles and sip a few beers ;)

Not a bad way to spend the time... :D

Eva

[Melba]

Not a bad way to spend the time... :D

Eva
I really wanted to be on my computer doing some ebay business, but.....:(
Oh well, at least my neighbor came over and we sat on the porch and chatted while enjoying our beverages.......:)

[ponytail]

I'm sticking close to home in this heat, which is not good because I have errands I should be running. We have A/C in the living room and bedroom only -- luckily the computer and TV are in the living room. The bathroom is like a suana. Our cat is staying in the bedroom all the time, the rabbit in the living room -- rabbits especially don't do well in extreme heat. Ugh. This is not my idea of "hot fun in the summertime."

[RedjackRyan]

Just shy of 90 here today.. muggy.. and i will be lighting the barbecue when i get home.

Love the summer!

[ponytail]

Well, for barbecue, I'd drag myself outside...drool....:p

[KarenSews2]

I hate the heat and humidity!!! RJ, you'd better get P'burgh cooled off before next week!

My daughter's best friend (the one I had the shower for) had her wedding on Saturday. OUTSIDE!!! GROSS! Thank GOD they did have a tent. But it was miserable. By the time I got home, I think I was stripping coming in the house, and headed straight for a COOOL shower!

The weather is supposed to break for us tomorrow, too. I hope it doesn't rain all day, because I'm going to go and spend the day with our grandsons. They have a pool, and I want to go swimming!

[Amy in Vermont]

It only got to 95 here, but the humidity was nasty. It has cooled off and it looks pretty ominous outside right now.. so maybe the end is in site!

[Oak Kitten]

It's 100 degrees fahrenheit right now. This morning I made my mile and a half jog a walk instead. We have treadmills in the fitness center at work, but I prefer to be outside. I filled up my insulated water bottle with cold water from the fridge, but it was as warm as bath water by the time I was halfway through the course. When I left the office at 1530 today, there was a woman running outside. That is CRAZY.

Oak

[AceOn6]

It was 101 in the parking lot at work when I left at 3:30 and 96 on our fairly shady street when I got home. We've still got the windows down as it's still cooler (86) inside than out. We have fans running to circulate the air. I did fill the tub with cold water and close the door. Nice having an air conditioned loo!

I love heat, but this is way too hot for me. I'll take mine in the upper 80s with much lower humidity, please.

[janisian]

We're in almost our 6th month of record highs down here... the city council was going to do away with the summer water "gardening rebate" (water is less expensive in the summer, because nearly everyone has gardens), but a huge public outcry stopped them. I'm staying in as much as possible, and keeping the dogs in too. Trying to water at 6 am, and only the food plants. We don't have much choice about using the AC; if it gets much beyond 70 all the time, the instruments will really suffer, as will my breathing. Keep all the room doors closed because it's a big, old house. We're eating a ton of gazpacho, other cold soups, with a light piece of protein following. And wearing scrubs, which seem to be the only clothing light enough.

[Melba]

I am with ya , Ace....its way hotter than I like it. "Sticky and sweaty" are not my forte. Looks like a little relief is coming Thursday. If the weather would just cooperate enough for me to paint while I am off work I would be delighted. :D Got a living room and bedroom that are just screaming to be redone.

[Dee]

Well we're getting a one-day reprieve at least:

Environment Canada Weather Forecast

City of Ottawa
Issued at: 11.36 PM EDT Wednesday 2 August 2006

Humidex advisory in effect.

Tonight..Showers ending overnight then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Low 18.

Thursday..Showers ending late in the morning then cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers late in the day. Amount 15 mm. High 22. UV index 3 or moderate.

Thursday night..Cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early in the evening. Clearing near midnight. Low 15.

Friday..Sunny. High 28.

Saturday..A mix of sun and cloud. Low 14. High 28.

Sunday..Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Low 18. High 27.

Normals for the period..Low 15. High 26.



I'll spend today trying to absorb the cooler air for storage. ;) :cool:

[Cardiffgal]

Great film - please go see this movie.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/

Just a friendly reminder . . .

[Dee]

Storm blasts eastern Ontario (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2006/08/03/storm-thur.html)
Last Updated: Thursday, August 3, 2006 | 3:28 PM ET
CBC News

Nearly 150,000 people were left without power after a powerful storm ripped through much of south and eastern Ontario on Wednesday night.

Winds from the storm gusted as high as 120 kilometres an hour, and a state of emergency was declared in the village of Combermere, south of Barry's Bay.

A hardware store in the village was destroyed and six homes suffered serious damage including several that lost their roofs. A number of cars were crushed by falling trees.

Craig Kelley, economic development co-ordinator for the Township of Madawaska Valley, told CBC News that the storm was like a tornado as it travelled down the Madawaska River leaving a trail of destruction.

No one was seriously hurt although damage is expected to run into the millions of dollars.

Many homes flooded

In Ottawa, a tornado watch was cancelled, but a severe thunderstorm warning continued overnight. Lyle Fraser, the district chief of the Ottawa Fire Service, said the storm brought down a large tree in Dunrobin.

The city received more than 50 calls Thursday about water damage in eastern and central Ottawa — including more flooding at homes in Orléans.

The flooding was not as severe as that seen last month when as much as 140 millimetres fell in one hour in parts of the neighbourhood.

Many Orléans residents were actually at a meeting with city staff to discuss the earlier flooding when the storm hit. Coun. Bob Monette says this most recent water damage confirms that something needs to be done to prevent future flooding.

The Ontario Provincial Police dispatch centre in Smiths Falls took nearly 400 calls between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., mostly for reports of fallen trees and power lines in the area.

Officers worked with Hydro One crews using chainsaws to clear roads throughout the evening.

Hydro One says some customers west of Ottawa could be without power until Sunday. About 12,000 customers in the Bancroft area currently have no electricity

[DaveM]

So Janis, is D'roo living in the swimming pool yet?

Minnesota got a break from the heat today and it is supposed to be heading east, so....hang on!

Junior T. Cat has discovered that the best way to cool off is to: either hide under the neighbors' back porch all day and come out only (and come in the house) after midnight or to find the darkest part of the house and lay on his back with his paws sticking up in the air. Very strange to turn into the hallway and come upon what at first glances appears to be a rather dead cat.