Sweet galloping Jehosephat, is it ever hot outside! It is only June, and
it’s 97 degrees Fahrenheit (That’s about 36C for our metric brethren).
The “heat index” is 103. It’s going to be a rough summer, methinks.
What’s worse is that we are planning a trip to New Orleans in July (no,
we’re not suffering from spontaneous insanity, that’s just when my
wife’s conference is…) I think in August we’re going to visit my friend
who recently moved to Ohio to attend the Dublin Irish Festival, if only
to recover from our impending chronic heatstroke.
But at least the humidity is pleasant here. It was only 95% at 7:30 am and it displaced all the O2 in the atmosphere My dogs won’t even chase squirrels or rabbits, now that’s bad.
Ugh. So much for that plan. We went to Festival for the Eno, a folk festival
in Durham, NC on July 4th weekend, a couple years ago, and I don’t know
how they kept the instruments from melting in the players’ hands.
The band Eddie from Ohio were there and they noted: “The only difference
between this gig and the one we just did in California is that you guys clothe
your children. And for that, we thank you.”
We’re getting it here, too. It’s 33°C (91.4°F), the RH is 42%, making for a Humidex of 39°C (102.2°F). As has been said, it’s only early June, and we too are being promised a very long, very hot summer this year by the weather office.
I am already feeling like ice cream that’s fallen onto the pavement. Lucky I’m not a wicked witch, as well.
It’s hotter than all holy hell in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s the kind of hot you usually don’t see until August. The health department is cautioning people to be especially cautious about venomous snakes (rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, copperheads, coral snakes). The local Children’s Hospital has treated four children for viper bites x 2 weeks, which is about 3.9 more than average.
Hey! not fair! and hawks like live prey I like road kill, par-boiled and grilled. We have all the smoke, well a lot of the smoke, from fires in NC, Evans Fire, blowing up this way, Code orange. Smells like we’re in a smoke shed 24/7.
We’ve got our second day of record breaking heat-96F. Too daggone hot for this time of year 'round here. The killer is that it’s not cooling off when the sun goes down like it usually does in these hills.
It’s hot here in Indiana, too, and we have been having more rain than we need. However, last week I took a cruise to Alaska. I was comfortable wearing my jacket and hat most of the time. Here are two photos that I took that may cool you off a little bit.
This is a close-up of the Margorie glacier in Glacier Bay, the face of which is 200 feet tall. It was interesting to hear the glacier crack and large blocks of ice fall into the water making a roar. This is called calfing for some strange reason.
This is a photo of Mt. McKinley (or Denali) taken from 40 miles away. The elevation is 20,320 feet, which makes it the highest mountain in North America. Because the mountain peak tends to generate its own weather, it is rather rare to have an unobstructed view of the summit.
With all the complaining I did about winter I shouldn’t complain but it was pretty warm here this weekend. Right now it’s about 83 with fairly low humidity and good wind so it’s not bad.
I hope things cool a bit before I go to North Carolina in a couple weeks though I don’t want torrential rain either!
My dogs won’t even chase squirrels or rabbits, now that’s bad.
I like road kill, par-boiled and grilled. 
