August, go away...

Not that we don’t still have 2.5+ months of this left…

Five minutes to 8:00 and it’s already ~78F / 99%.

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The heat I can deal with the humidity and the Florida like daily thunderstorms is what ruins summer.

I live in central Alabama, and the humidity is bad. But the two worst places for humidity that I recall are New Orleans and Houston. I’m sure that there are even worse places, though.

On the other hand, when I have visited places that have low humidity, such as Las Vegas or The Grand Canyon, I felt almost like it was going to kill me. I vividly remember drinking bottle after bottle of water at The Grand Canyon, yet still being very thirsty.

I guess it’s just what you’re used to.

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The situation is also difficult in Italy, with a perceived temperature of 42 degrees (over 100 fahrenheit), with humidity reaching 90%. At least 10 more days.

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The frustrating part is that no western country is even addressing the climate crisis a bit. All for profit it seems.

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Sadly almost no country western or global south. Some progress is being made here and there but there is a lot of resistance. Yet, big oil is making incredible profits this year due to the US-Israel-Iran war which will only strengthen their misinformation campaigns and denial.

Trump with his oil cronies is perhaps the biggest danger, he’s been cutting solar and wind everywhere he can in the US and Americans don’t seem to care. No effective protests, nothing. Incredibly demoralizing watching this unfold.

@lphilpot Isn’t this wet bulb territory? I wonder how people handled this before effective climate control, seems extremely dangerous to be outside

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We are usually dry here in SoCal, which makes the heat not as bad. But in the last few weeks its been 90-95F with 75-85% humidity. Ew.

I grew up in the deep South (U. S.) before air conditioning was common. I remember large window fans that drew air through the houses. And we kids played outside most of the time, even during the hottest days of summer. Like I said above, we were just used to it.

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26C is the temperature I like to live at. We use AC to cool the house to about that. But 99 humidity is tooo much, even for this part of theworld!

Tesla is one of the most popular cars right now. Does it count?

Yeah fascist Musk does not make me feel good about this.

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The Pacific Northwest in the US is on fire right now. And it’s 100°F (37.8°C) where I live.

Spain and France are on fire too. Here in Germany, we are seeing river levels at historically low levels and we are discussing moving cargo onto trucks because “we cannot change the weather” yada yada…

But for some positive news, the Volts podcast sometimes helps me still see something good Volts | David Roberts | Substack

Here in S/W Ireland we’re having the best summer since the 1970’s. Close but not the hottest, but definitely most consistant and lengthy for sure.

Yes, technically it is. It can be a problem for those unable to stay cool or required to do outdoor work in the heat. Fortunately for me it’s a real annoyance, but other than my repeating near-death experiences while mowing the grass :slight_smile: I can always go inside an die in air-conditioned privacy. LOL My only place for shaded “non-yard” work is my garage. But unfortunately the …genius… who designed our house (long before we bought it) put the dryer vent into the garage, so it’s a sauna when it’s running. There’s no viable way to change that short of a major renovation.

As @Tim pointed out, it’s somewhat a matter of acclimatization. Like him, I played outside as a kid and we didn’t live in a house with air conditioning until I was 11 years old I think. Even then it was one old window unit in the master bedroom, at the end of a rambling rental house. But still it felt cooler inside just because it was a bit drier. We had plenty of fans, including window and attic fans. Usually my dad ran it only for a while to save money (yes, he grew up through the Great Depression as a kid… can you tell?).

As to being outside, it’s also a matter of finding shade and staying hydrated. Unlike low humidity heat (which I experienced especially strong one June in west Texas: 107F 10% humidity), high humidity heat won’t “allow” you to really dehydrate in the same manner. You’ll probably pass out from the perceived heat before the lack of water gets to you. At least that’s how it seems to me. The problem with “hot humidity” is, without AC it can be difficult to cool down once you’ve reached to danger zone. Shade is darker and has less radiant heat, but otherwise just about as hot as sunshine. Minimal wind doesn’t help.

Before the last decade or so the typical summertime pattern was at dawn a reasonably warm overnight low (76-82F) with high humidity (90%+), followed by the daily warmup with a mid-afternoon humidity of ~50%. The summer of 2023 was long, hot and dry with highs often above 105F but fortunately daytime humidity was in the ~35% range, sometimes lower. Kind of like an oven. LOL The last summer or two (including now) it’s been topping out at in the upper 90sF, but the afternoon drop in humidity has been minimal, with it frequently staying at or above 65% all day. So all in all it feels just as warm.

But mostly I’m succeeding at becoming an old crotchety guy. LOL :slight_smile: I like outdoor activities – particularly in nice locations – but heat & humidity pretty much suck the fun out of that now.

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Those are two of the worst, but they kind of bookend the worst area in general. I think I’ve shared this image before:

I mean… who thought Louisiana was a good place to have a state, anyway? :smiley:

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Well, SpaceX seems enamored, of late. Look to Pecan Island as the next hotbed of orbital lift operations, go figure…

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/08/spacex-is-set-to-acquire-130000-acres-of-marshland-in-southern-louisiana/

Yeah, heard about that… Is “hurricane” not in his dictionary? I guess if everything is below grade and / or hardened, but still…

Mostly I think it’s just Big Money and Big Politics, with the cretins that populate too much of both.

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Well, methinks the legislators of the oil districts are looking at oil as a long-term dead end, and space looking more resilient, for jobs. Oh, that doesn’t mean they’re saints, just that they do consider voters.

Similar discourse over at Ars on this; doing some reading, I found this quote from Earl Long, a former governor:

“The colorful “Uncle Earl”… once joked that one day the people of Louisiana would elect “good government, and they won’t like it!”” - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Long#%22Uncle_Earl%22_and_anecdotes

My personal favorite is Warren J. 'Puggy" Moity, itinerant politician in the New Iberia area. My dad related the story where Puggy was on a ballot for six different positions. In an interview, he was asked, “Puggy, what’re you going to do if you win more than one?” He retorted, “Well, it’s like fishing, keep the best one and throw the rest away…”

I loves my home state. Not enough to move back, though, mostly for the humidity.

This graphic looks off knowing what I know of the east part of Southern California. Death Valley is only orange? The Mojave is only orange? Seems sus.