AMAZON

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Heat Wave


Southern Europe is sizzling in a heat wave: with highs in Greece of 115 F (46.1 C); in Romania of 105 F (40.6 C); in Italy of 113 F (45.0 C); and in Turkey, where a man my age collapsed on a beach and died from the heat, temperatures topped 111 F (43.9 C).

In Canada, temperatures today were forecast to hit about 112 F (44.4 C), and one the electric company recommended that folks conserve energy by: (1) Using fans instead of air conditioners; (2) Using a clothesline to dry clothing; (3) Setting pool heater thermostats back one degree; (4) Washing laundry in cold water; and (5) Unplugging secondary fridges.

For the continental United States, the temperatures in most of the southern half are in the 90s F (30s C), except for around the Mexican border from Texas to Arizona, where the temperatures reach as high as 111 F (43.9 C).

So it seems that much of the world, especially the northern hemisphere, is in a heat wave, very hot and exhibiting all of those related elements such as droughts (Australia, parts of Europe, Africa, and the United States are suffering from some of the worst droughts in memory), wild fires (thousands of acres are now burning in California and North Carolina), and heat related illnesses.

So I have asked myself, Is all of this a foretaste of what global warming will mean for the world’s future? The information I have found in researching my question varies. Some claim that global warming is responsible for the wild fires now burning in the western United States. Jim Laver, director of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center, says that the heat is part of the normal cycle and has nothing to do with global warming. The Washington Post reports that global warming is responsible for this heat wave.

Baseline: I don’t know what to believe or what to expect! I just know that, at the moment, the temperature outside my house is 88 F (31.1 C), the coolest it has been here since noon, and the temperature inside my house is 84 F (28.9 C), which is much too warm for either Alex or me.

P.S: To convert temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius or Celsius to Fahrenheit for this post, I used this neat (and free) Temperature Converter that I found on the net.

12 comments:

  1. I do know that it's darned hot. I hope you're keeping cool.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Around 95° here (35 C)all this week. Dry as a bone and very little breeze. Air quality - moderate but still it's a little hard to breathe comfortably.

    The San Joaquin valley is home to an untold number of cattle, chickens, other agriculture, and an constant parade of trucks down Hwy 99 right through the middle of this town.

    I can hardly wait for July and August.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's been 95 or better around here as well - I tend to believe that it is part of a normal cycle. ec

    ReplyDelete
  4. All I know is, when it gets this hot I stay inside.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hope your a/c gets fixed soon.

    Hugs,
    Laurie

    ReplyDelete
  6. That picture certainly evokes thoughts of a heat wave.

    The high in Tucson today was 94. Of course, it's a dry heat and feels much cooler than 94 in the Ohio River Valley does.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Nick

    No matter how hot it gets here, I don't like and don't have, an air conditioner. I have ceiling fans and doors and windows...but at the moment, summer seems a century away. We can get 40 degrees plus fairly regularly, except for last summer. Relatively speaking, it was fairly cool, we had very few days where the temperature was in the high 30s.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Nick ~~ Sorry it is so very hot over there for you, and in so many places. But there were floods in England and we are having it very cold in Australia, with very little
    rain. I think we all appreciate friendships more as we get older.
    Take care, Nick, Regards, Merle.

    ReplyDelete
  9. One of the things scientists have predicted is that the extremes will get more extreme; highs will be higher, lows will be lower, droughts and floods will become more of the norm.

    There's a useful little freeware application I'm happy with that you might like to convert metric to English (and a lot of other units of measure). It's called "Convert," and you can get it HERE.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ok..if it's over 100 in Canada, WHO is the dork with the pool heater on that needs to be lowered???? OY!

    Along the coast in Texas, we've had so much rain, it's unbelievable. I've not watered once this season and that's highly unusual. More rain coming. I wished we could share with some of the northern folks.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Odd how these heat waves keep coming along every summer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You are getting the heat that we had just a few months ago.
    We are (finally) back to a normal winter ... cold and wet ... thank goodness, though, as we need the rain.
    Take care, stay cool, Meow

    ReplyDelete