When the heat can't be beat, a.k.a let's talk about weather

[livinitup]

We took a few days off this week and stayed at a nice hotel in a cute town. The first day was too hot to go outside (even our balcony was too hot to sit on) so we had a very good time indoors in our nicely air conditioned room. Thankfully, the next day was nice enough to be poolside and we even got a cabana to lounge under and eat lunch (we like shade). Lots of swimming for us!

[dancingirl21]

My dad and I talk about the weather frequently. He’s a 60+ year old worry wart, but makes some good points. He is in Wisconsin (for his whole life) and we have talked about how seasons are shifting. Growing up there, it was often that we would have big snow November-March. Now it seems like the snow doesn’t happen until later and lasts longer into the spring.

They also had some pretty major tornadoes there last December. That’s unheard of. The storms are more extreme, the heat more intense. It’s all very concerning.

[abs]

“Hottest summer ever in parts of Texas.”

Yep. Hi. It’s me. We set a record in June for heat. July is going similarly. We are in a very bad drought and grass fires pop up daily because it hasn’t rained really since May. At night it doesn’t cool down much last 78. At this point the only way we will break out of this is with a hurricane. Things are accelerating very quickly in a bad way.

[abs]

Jul 28, 2022 14:45:02 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Look, I know I'm cranky. But ffs, is this all we can do is discuss our particular weather and whether it's been ok or not? This is what climate scientists have been screaming about for decades, but whatever if you live in a northern climate right? Oh, until you're impacted by climate refugees who can afford to flee to your climate and they start taking over your area that isn't equipped for the influx.

This is so.much.worse than anything we can imagine and in a decade it's just going to seem mild.

Yep. I said this last year but there are parts of TX/LA that are going to be uninhabitable sooner rather than later due to weather extremes. It’s going to spread. We personally are working on our Texas exit plan and aren’t the only ones. The climate change crisis is going to truly hit us in so many ways.

[neverfstop]

Jul 28, 2022 14:58:46 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jul 28, 2022 14:07:30 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

New England has been brutal this year. I am terrified to see our electric bill (we only have window AC units) next month, especially since the cost of electricity in NH doubled in July this year.

I can handle the heat when it cools down at night a bit, but it has been in the 90s during the day and the mid 70s at night. It is miserable.

What I have clearly noticed through the years is that it is not cooling down like it used to in the olden days at night anymore. That's a huge problem for, well, everyone. 

Same here in Houston. Our highs have been slightly higher than normal, but the overnight lows have been 1-2 degrees warmer, making the average daily temps much higher.  Hottest June on record & we're headed toward the hottest July on record.

[pixy0stix]

Here is yet another article about what you, individually, can do to reduce your impact on the power grids when the weather heats up - www.wired.com/story/texas-precarious-power-grid-exposes-a-nasty-feedback-loop/

I cannot stress enough that people need to be spending their money on their homes right now. Solar, adding insulation and changing your windows/doors, swapping out your HVAC to be more efficient or adding air conditioning... All of that is going to be part of your survival. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. Not just for yourself, but again lessoning your impact to help others that don't have the money to do so.

[suburbanzookeeper]

Our solar panels will be 10 next month. We added a Quiet Cool whole house fan eight years ago which helps cool the interior and the attic space at night when temperatures drop (it's tolerable most of the year, this week the humidity has sucked). We did Tex-Cote "Coolwall" paint at the same time, tbh I don't think it made much of a difference (and our contractor sucked).

Our HVAC could be replaced but we have been trying to hold off a bit longer for inventory/supply to catch-up - it's 20 this year, original to the house, but still working (knock on wood). We've been trying to pace ourselves on house projects.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jul 28, 2022 14:40:08 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Did those of you proclaiming it's mild actually read the article? Or are you being purposely dense? I'm sincerely asking here, because millions of Americans are going to have to move or die within the next decade and y'all are just flipping your hair.

I read the article, and I apologize if it sounds like I’m dismissing what it’s saying.

I was trying to say that it’s been so hot here the last couple of years that this year, which seems mild comparatively, is actually not mild because it’s been so hot for so many years and it’s seemingly like the new normal to be horribly hot.

[mskitkat]

Jul 28, 2022 16:04:02 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Here is yet another article about what you, individually, can do to reduce your impact on the power grids when the weather heats up - www.wired.com/story/texas-precarious-power-grid-exposes-a-nasty-feedback-loop/

I cannot stress enough that people need to be spending their money on their homes right now. Solar, adding insulation and changing your windows/doors, swapping out your HVAC to be more efficient or adding air conditioning... All of that is going to be part of your survival. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. Not just for yourself, but again lessoning your impact to help others that don't have the money to do so.

I am so annoyed with myself now that I let the hvac people talk me out of a heat pump when we replaced our system last year.

[dcn]

Jul 28, 2022 15:01:54 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I know we're mostly talking about the heat, but the flooding in St. Louis was insane too. Seems like one half of the country will just be a perennial drought while the rest will have too much damn water. Not a shock, but that's where we are.

Eastern KY had crazy flash flooding overnight - houses and the elementary school with water to the roof. It’s awful.

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/07/28/weather/kentucky-flash-flooding/index.html

[macmars45]

Jul 28, 2022 15:30:21 GMT -5 dancingirl21 said:

My dad and I talk about the weather frequently. He’s a 60+ year old worry wart, but makes some good points. He is in Wisconsin (for his whole life) and we have talked about how seasons are shifting. Growing up there, it was often that we would have big snow November-March. Now it seems like the snow doesn’t happen until later and lasts longer into the spring.

My twin sister and I were just talking about this a few months ago. We're in central WA state. We don't see snow until January now and it lasts through April. When we were kids here we frequently saw snow on our birthday (November 20th) and snow was done by early March at the very very latest.

This year was really rainy in June which is unheard of because we're a semi desert. We get 9 inches per year. The sad part was I was happy about it because I know wildfires are coming. August and September are our wildfire months. Last year it went through October.

[jlt19]

Jul 28, 2022 15:01:54 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I know we're mostly talking about the heat, but the flooding in St. Louis was insane too. Seems like one half of the country will just be a perennial drought while the rest will have too much damn water. Not a shock, but that's where we are.

Well, we were in a drought (100+ for over a week) and then it rained a years worth in 3 days. How anyone can say that is not climate change is beyond me.

[karinothing]

Jul 28, 2022 14:58:46 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jul 28, 2022 14:07:30 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

New England has been brutal this year. I am terrified to see our electric bill (we only have window AC units) next month, especially since the cost of electricity in NH doubled in July this year.

I can handle the heat when it cools down at night a bit, but it has been in the 90s during the day and the mid 70s at night. It is miserable.

What I have clearly noticed through the years is that it is not cooling down like it used to in the olden days at night anymore. That's a huge problem for, well, everyone. 

This has been a problem in Phoenix for a long time now. It just keeps getting hotter there. I mean lows of 85. There is just so much concrete it traps the heat. It impacts the monsoon season too. And my dad now has to grow tomatoes in January which is nuts. I remember being a kid and having tomatoes season be the summer.

[pixy0stix]

Jul 28, 2022 20:01:41 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Jul 28, 2022 14:58:46 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

What I have clearly noticed through the years is that it is not cooling down like it used to in the olden days at night anymore. That's a huge problem for, well, everyone. 

This has been a problem in Phoenix for a long time now. It just keeps getting hotter there. I mean lows of 85. There is just so much concrete it traps the heat. It impacts the monsoon season too. And my dad now has to grow tomatoes in January which is nuts. I remember being a kid and having tomatoes season be the summer.

I don't see how Phoenix will continue to be inhabitable. There's going to be no water, and the heat will be too much to support life. It's a hot (no pun) debate right now. Some are saying it'll be endgame by 2050.

[babsbunny]

I want to move further south of DFW because I never want to be cold without heat ever again. Buttttttttt, I know I am crazy. The best thing DH and I can do is prepare for our future taking into consideration the weather impacts and build a self-sustainable home and garden in another part of the US.

It's promising that I see more solar panels in DFW. I think they were too "liberal" before, but now it's becoming acceptable (with the gas guzzling pickup still in the driveway). There is still the risk of hail though.

[pixy0stix]

Jul 28, 2022 21:49:20 GMT -5 babsbunny said:

I want to move further south of DFW because I never want to be cold without heat ever again. Buttttttttt, I know I am crazy. The best thing DH and I can do is prepare for our future taking into consideration the weather impacts and build a self-sustainable home and garden in another part of the US.

It's promising that I see more solar panels in DFW. I think they were too "liberal" before, but now it's becoming acceptable (with the gas guzzling pickup still in the driveway). There is still the risk of hail though.

FWIW, I live in an area that gets more hail than any other part of the US and I'm not concerned. The panels are tough (manufactured to take at least a one inch hail stone), and if they do break they're covered by our insurance. If we do get a storm fierce enough to take out our panels, I'm going to be more concerned that my car is going to be totaled (which we've had happen).

[pumpkin]

Jul 28, 2022 17:36:19 GMT -5 macmars45 said:

Jul 28, 2022 15:30:21 GMT -5 dancingirl21 said:

My dad and I talk about the weather frequently. He’s a 60+ year old worry wart, but makes some good points. He is in Wisconsin (for his whole life) and we have talked about how seasons are shifting. Growing up there, it was often that we would have big snow November-March. Now it seems like the snow doesn’t happen until later and lasts longer into the spring.

My twin sister and I were just talking about this a few months ago. We're in central WA state. We don't see snow until January now and it lasts through April. When we were kids here we frequently saw snow on our birthday (November 20th) and snow was done by early March at the very very latest.

This year was really rainy in June which is unheard of because we're a semi desert. We get 9 inches per year. The sad part was I was happy about it because I know wildfires are coming. August and September are our wildfire months. Last year it went through October.

My dad and I were just talking about this too. He grew up in eastern WA, but we’ve lived in the Seattle area for almost 40 years now and the changes are definitely more significant in the last 2-3years.

[dulcemariamar]

I just came back from Madrid and it was absolutely miserable. I lived there for many years and the summers were always manageable but this time it was impossible being out between the hours of 12-9. It actually felt scary being out during the day especially since hundreds of people were dying during the heatwave.

And the forest fires were out of control.

[Jalapeñomel]

Arizona has some serious flooding from the monsoons this year.

www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix-weather/2022/07/28/az-monsoon-storms-expected-weekend-flash-food-watch-effect/10178337002/

[Vespasia]

We're currently at my family's summer cottage in CT. I've been coming here my whole life and the weather is noticeably different. What used to be a particularly hot weekend is now the norm. It used to be cool at night to the point where we'd have a fire a few times per summer. Now we all have to sleep with big fans in the window and even then it can be uncomfortable.

I'm not sure what we'll do in 20 odd years as it continues to get worse.

The one upside is that even though we're on a river, we sit so high up that sea level rise is unlikely to be a problem.

[formerlyak]

Jul 28, 2022 16:04:02 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Here is yet another article about what you, individually, can do to reduce your impact on the power grids when the weather heats up - www.wired.com/story/texas-precarious-power-grid-exposes-a-nasty-feedback-loop/

I cannot stress enough that people need to be spending their money on their homes right now. Solar, adding insulation and changing your windows/doors, swapping out your HVAC to be more efficient or adding air conditioning... All of that is going to be part of your survival. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. Not just for yourself, but again lessoning your impact to help others that don't have the money to do so.

The adding insulation point is a good one that I never understood until recently. Last summer we moved four blocks to a larger, much newer house. The insulation in our old house was up to 1960s code. Our new house was built 5 years ago. Since we only moved 4 blocks, the weather is clearly the same. But we rarely used our heat in the winter and haven’t used our A/C yet this summer. I know our weather is relatively mild here, but in our old house we’d need the heater in the winter be there were days in the summer we’d wish we had A/C.

[quesyrah]

Jul 28, 2022 12:20:49 GMT -5 glw said:

Jul 28, 2022 12:03:19 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Cold and snow 4evah.

Seconded.

This will likely be our last summer with no central air-- our house was built in the 20's and has lots of great features to deal with the heat sans air conditioning, but they're not cutting it anymore. 

Same, we can’t deal with the heat anymore.

We can’t afford central air so we put in a ductless mini split in our family room last summer. We just ordered them for the bedrooms this week. Even though this summer hasn’t been as hot, our bedrooms are still 85* at night.

[wildrice]

I worry about this a lot. It is SO hot and miserable here in the summers, I can't imagine it getting even worse but I know it's coming. My parents and sister's family moved to Houston a few years ago and I also worry a lot about them and their future, especially since I don't think any of us were aware of the power grid issues before they moved down there. They have been fortunate so far that they haven't lost power when so many people did, but I don't know if that means that will last forever.

We have actually already done a lot of the energy saving things on our house - it came with a heat pump, and we did new attic insulation/fan and new windows as two of the first things we changed. Our front door probably needs replacing to be more efficient, but other than solar there isn't much else we can change. But, it's still hot and uncomfortable in the bedrooms in the summer! It's better than it was before we did the attic/windows, but we have fans running pretty much constantly. Again, I can't imagine if it gets much hotter outside - it's going to be more miserable inside.

John Oliver did an interesting segment on water in the southwest part of the US recently. I have spent very little time in that part of the country so it was eye opening for me simply because I never really thought that much about it. But yes, I think we're going to be completely fucked down there in time because there will literally be no water for people to use. Couple that with rising temperatures and it's going to become uninhabitable. Plus they are ruining the ground getting water from underground. And yet some people are still building golf courses and other water sucking places with no regard for the future. It's insane.

[pumpkincat]

Jul 28, 2022 20:49:00 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jul 28, 2022 20:01:41 GMT -5 karinothing said:

This has been a problem in Phoenix for a long time now. It just keeps getting hotter there. I mean lows of 85. There is just so much concrete it traps the heat. It impacts the monsoon season too. And my dad now has to grow tomatoes in January which is nuts. I remember being a kid and having tomatoes season be the summer.

I don't see how Phoenix will continue to be inhabitable. There's going to be no water, and the heat will be too much to support life. It's a hot (no pun) debate right now. Some are saying it'll be endgame by 2050.

As a current resident of Phoenix, this has me terrified.  

Boyfriend and I are stuck here for another 8 years until my youngest graduates from highschool due to custody agreements.  Selfishly, I'm terribly worried that my home will have little to no value at that point.  I've been debating buying property elsewhere as an exit plan, but not sure we're in a financial position for that right now.

[mrsukyankee]

We had so much rain for a large part of 2021 and now we're in the midst of what appears to be a drought in the south of England, along with some of the highest temps on record (those few days). And much of Southern Europe are dealing with temps that are super high, lots of fires due to dry weather for ages. It's not good. Along with what's happening in Ukraine & Russia (and how our gov't is handling things), there is going to be a lot of food and fuel poverty in the UK this autumn/winter.

[macmars45]

All of H's extended family is in AZ in the Phoenix area mostly. H and I have been trying to convince them to move although WA state isn't a ton better with our rising temperatures, droughts and wildfires. And then there's rising/warming sea waters and earthquakes.

[dutchgirl678]

We had such a wet and cold spring here in the PNW. They said we wouldn't get a very hot summer. But now we have been in 100F weather for the past few days and on day 1 our AC broke. We called immediately to have it repaired but they can't fit us in until Thursday . We are trying to stay cool as best be can but by the end of the day it is almost 90F inside.

[Velar Fricative]

I do have deep concerns about (along with many others things) financial implications. We are going to see a lot of worthless housing in our lifetime - way beyond what we saw in the last recession. When housing is the #1 net worth builder for Americans and their main retirement nest eggs…oof.

[dutchgirl678]

Jul 28, 2022 20:49:00 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jul 28, 2022 20:01:41 GMT -5 karinothing said:

This has been a problem in Phoenix for a long time now. It just keeps getting hotter there. I mean lows of 85. There is just so much concrete it traps the heat. It impacts the monsoon season too. And my dad now has to grow tomatoes in January which is nuts. I remember being a kid and having tomatoes season be the summer.

I don't see how Phoenix will continue to be inhabitable. There's going to be no water, and the heat will be too much to support life. It's a hot (no pun) debate right now. Some are saying it'll be endgame by 2050.

A couple from our neighborhood in OR recently sold their home and bought a new home in AZ in a retirement community. I don’t understand it. The community has three pools and they are having a private pool built in their backyard. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are lawns everywhere.

[jlt19]

I’ve admittedly done little research on desalination plants, but it sounds like if they could figure out a better use of the salt (rather than putting it back in the ocean, it could be a viable option to help with both droughts and sea level rise.

I feel like trade offs are going to have to be made because we’re past the point of even all environmentalists working towards the same goal.