How's the weather where you are?

Lounge
1

I guess many of us might like to complain about the weather now and then, but somehow it’s … nice (?) … to get a little “misery loves company” confirmation, even if it does nothing to change anything. :smiley:

This 2018 Forbes article is US-centric (sorry, everyone else) but it’s graphic – and graphical – confirmation of what we’ve long known here in the deep-Deep South US: Summers are a (~five month) stay-inside waste of time.

Who Has The Most Oppressive Weather?

I’m located in central Louisiana and to quote the article, “To no one’s surprise, the Gulf of Mexico coastal areas lead the way in oppressive conditions. Louisiana is the epicenter of summertime oppressive weather.” (emphasis mine)

1200×927 207 KB

(95F == 35C)

The combination of heat, humidity and stagnant air can be very oppressive. Simply stepping outside is like hitting a wall. Staying outside for five to ten minutes doing nothing will result in sweat.

Last week I was working in my garage in the early afternoon, with a fan blowing a strong breeze. The garage is open on one end with no door and has an open doorway onto the patio at the other end. The sun was not shining directly into it, but the sensor from my home weather station (on an inside wall that wasn’t sunlit on either side) was reporting 98F (37C) air temperature. I don’t remember the humidity offhand, maybe 65%?, but the reported heat index / “feels like” temperature was 116F (47C). And that was with no direct radiation-based heat! :hot_face:

Unfortunately that’s become more common. A friend and former co-worker once remarked, “Around here, summer is just a zit on the butt of climate.” :slight_smile: I’m inclined to agree.

Now of course, we know nothing of “real” winter around here. The last three (?) winters have seen lows in the mid teens Fahrenheit (-17C). Ice storms aren’t all the unusual, nor is sleet / freezing rain, but snow is fairly rare. Our winters are often two months, more or less, of grey overcast with rain off and on. There’s the occasional short spells of clear sky but then it clouds over again. Lows fall below freezing fairly often in January and February, but by mid-March it’s eased up enough to fire off volatile weather. And then by early May it’s pushing 90F (32C) again, not to see highs below 90F until October (maybe).

On a more recent note, Hurricane / Tropical Storm Beryl missed us, to our west. We got some clouds for a welcome slight reduction in heat. But no wind and virtually no rain.

Anyone else want to join me in whinging? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

4 Likes
2

I’m in central Alabama. It is currently hot and dry. I have no reason to complain, it is typical for this time of year.

2 Likes
3

Yeah, I know. Actually I’d feel less inclined to complain if this was an atypical aberration, but after 6+ decades of long, useless summers it’s gotten old, know what I mean?

To a certain degree my retirement has turned into “sit inside and look at the walls, never mind what you want to do.” So, my challenge now is how to work around that.

3 Likes
4

In Southern California, it is dry and hot, 33C or so. In the last few years I’ve become way more sensitive to the heat tho, which is terrible.

2 Likes
5

Traveling right now, so I don’t know about Colorado. Did an Alaskan cruise, kinda chilly. Returned to Seattle, hot. Drove to Astoria on the coast yesterday, pleasant. Returning to Colorado tomorrow, only clue about what we’re heading to is one of our Ring cameras shows brown grass in one place…

Len, Colorado has spoiled me, I’d never move back to Louisiana. When we moved here in 1991, we looked at 22 houses to buy, not a single one had air conditioning. I freaked out, realtor said, “don’t worry, ceiling fans take care of the worst of it”, and they were right. Now, it has it’s challenges, dessicatingly dry, nosebleeds and cracked cuticles, and the altitude has driven away friends with pulmonary problems. It’s gotten hotter, but dry hot is more tolerable than humid hot…

1 Like
6

Currently in Sài Gòn we have daily/nightly summer rain showers and warmish temps into the 90s Farenheit. At night we are dipping down into the 70s, and it has been a relatively mild summer so far down here. Really prefer the periodic summer rains and gentle breezes to the oppresive tropical funk that hangs out under the inversion layer the rest of the year.

7

I can completely understand that. A friend who moved to SW Missouri five years ago basically said the same thing and from what I’ve seen of both places, I agree. IMO Louisiana is no place to live, much less voluntarily move (to). And that extends far beyond the climate, but that’s a whole 'nuther topic. Unfortunately, due to a number of factors I honestly can’t imagine a snowball’s chance in hell that I’ll be able to move anywhere (not even locally). Several major things would all have to change for the better…

Anyway… c’est la vie, I guess. :no_mouth: Just talking 'bout the weather and all…

1 Like
8

That’s a key factor even here. Not quite as much about inversion layers (although we get them from time to time), but we get lots of stalled fronts.

In a straight line I’m roughly 120 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, which is obviously the master weather influence for us. In the late summer (fall for everyone else) we get cool fronts heading south that often right over (or north of) us stall, go back and forth for days, etc. All the time we’re trapped in hotter, more humid stagnant air between the front and the Gulf, usually with high overcast, trapped heat and no wind. In the spring, the warm fronts move north dragging clouds and Gulf moisture over us, but they’re typically not strong enough to keep going, so they stall and stagnant conditions ensue.

It’s relatively rare to have a “clean sweep” front that moves through and really changes the weather in a noticeable manner. It does happen, but not often. What does happen more often is that weather comes in from the west, usually over Texas. It’s typically convective and often continues through the night(s) since there’s not enough cool-down (due to humidity) to kill off the atmospheric convection engine.

1 Like
9

Honestly I don’t know if I’m more sensitive now or just less (mentally) tolerant. :slight_smile: But either way it does take a toll. I can definitely feel a difference between dry and humid heat. Both are hot, but dry heat has a much quicker recover time, for me at least. And it doesn’t quite “get around” me like humid heat does. But that’s possibly a very individual reaction, dunno. Dry heat can “sneak up on me” with dehydration, etc. faster than humid. With humid heat, you know it’s coming! LOL

It’s just frustrating, e.g., to go into my garage on a summer morning, futz around with this or that for 20 minutes (typically seated at my work bench more often than not) and when I come back inside, the house feels like a freezer because my skin, shirt, pants, etc. are wet with sweat. And I’ve been doing nothing physical, just being out there.

1 Like
10

We I am in Tasmania. An island state just south of mainland Australia. It is winter here but not too bad. About 10-13 degrees Celsius here. Probably feeling a little jealous of our friend in Vietnam. He could always escape to Da Lat if Sài Gòn gets too hot for him. I did some abseiling there last August.

DSC_0047-web
DSC_0047-web1080×720 375 KB

DSC_0119-web
DSC_0119-web1080×1620 660 KB

8 Likes
11

I lived in Texas for 8 miserable years, NEVER AGAIN.

I grew up with four balanced seasons. Hot-but-not-painful summers, snowy-but-not-arctic winters, plenty of rainfall and general humidity to keep all the local plant life lush and my throat from drying out. I finally moved back home after 20 years away and nothing short of a cataclysm would move me now.

3 Likes
12

I was in central Texas for a while then Houston. Both are stupid hot but in Houston I found the heat index was not a reliable indicator of how I’d feel, nor was the relative humidity, they often underestimated how hot it felt. I found the dew point more indicative.

2 Likes
13

Talking to a neighbour recently, he remarked, “Scotland has two seasons, July and winter”.

So far, July hasn’t been great. Dryer than it has been, but temperatures below average.

2 Likes
14

I am in Budapest, Hungary. Currently the daily maximum is 38–39 C (101–102 F). This has been typical for July-August in the last few years.

I try to schedule all outdoor activities early morning or late afternoon. Fortunately we have planted a lot of medium-size but fast growing trees in our garden 5 years ago, optimizing for quick shade, with help from a garden planning expert. It is starting to provide some shade, but it will be another 5 years before it has a significant effect.

2 Likes
15

In Somerset in the south of England it’s currently grey, overcast but not raining and 17 degrees Celcius.

Sounds like the UK doesn’t it? :rofl:

But in honesty we’ve had some decently warm and sunny weather too, and I actually quite enjoy the rain. English rain is very enthusiastically wet somehow… :crazy_face:

4 Likes
16

I am having the north Adriatic sea in vicinity (60 km), staying cautiously 1000 m above it’s level. The weather suits me just fine.

weath
weath809×425 35.7 KB

Have all a fine day!

2 Likes
17

That’s one is the main things I miss here – There aren’t four seasons, just two: Wet and cold-ish, then humid and hot for months. Spring and fall aren’t seasons, just erratic transition periods of a few short weeks. That leads to an almost frantic rush to “do something” outdoors during those brief times before the weather puts an end to it.

Re: Texas, yes – east Texas (and central, to some degree) is like Louisiana climatically, but farther west, past San Antone (as the locals say) it’s a totally different beast. Dry and higher, so although it can get hot it will also cool down. Of course it’s a “southwest” environment, so if you’re looking for green lushness you won’t really find it there. But if you like high and dry it’s great.

Given an opportunity I’d move to Texas in a heartbeat. Even east Texas world be an upgrade. At least then I’d be that much closer to decent places! Of course, all that assumes living in a rural area, not Houston, Austin, DFW, etc. SAT might (?) be ok if I had to be in a city, dunno.

1 Like
18

Yeah, I watched a YT video about a group of photographers who recently did a 25 mile charity hike in England. They all were wearing long sleeves, jackets, etc. I’m thinking, “wow, it’s July!!”. Here you’d pass out in a jacket after 15 minutes … except, apparently, those I see walking down the road wearing long sleeve hoodies with the hood up and hands in the pockets, out in the 95F+ sunshine! SMH…

1 Like
19

Some people wear long sleeves etc even in high temperature because of UV. Even with sunscreen, you can get sunburned if you are not exposed to the sun a lot where you live, or have very fair skin. With modern wicking fabrics it is not as bad as it looks.

1 Like
20

What I see around here are generally heavy-duty (i. e., winter weight) hooded sweatshirts. Often they’re black, or nearly so. That has to be hot in direct sunlight and 95F+ temperatures.

My daughter had a habit of wearing them a few years ago. It was more from a trend / style angle than practicality. Certainly everyone is welcome to wear whatever they want, I just can’t imagine that it’s not extremely hot.

3 Likes