too effing hot

still can't believe they ran the track and field trials in eugene yesterday

Even most newer apartments in the Seattle area don't have AC. You might get an AC vent that makes it easier to hook up a portable unit but that's it.

On the bright side, isn’t power in the PNW basically all hydro?

Bonneville Power Administration distributes the hydropower from federal dam projects in the region. There are a few dams owned by utility companies, but they mostly own generating plants, not dams. A quick look at the BPA website came up with:

Bonneville’s power accounts for about 65 percent of the generating capacity and half of the firm energy produced in the Northwest. Hydropower accounts for 80 percent of the capacity and 67 percent of the energy provided by Bonneville.

So, hydro is substantial in the PNW, but these numbers indirectly show it accounts for less than half.

i'm sure the unprecedented drought conditions won't be a problem for all that

Truly in awe scrolling down the list of sold out hotels on Expedia.

i'm sure the unprecedented drought conditions won't be a problem for all that

My friend who has been at the airport all day

gate agent literally announced “you can see we’ll have a bit of a delay, we have a lot of ground crew that have gone to the hospital today, and there aren’t many left” which has me feeling bad for a few reasons

— David Lubell (@davidlubell) June 29, 2021

this may end up being attributable to climate change https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/28/champlain-towers-garage-flooding/

jfc@ silby airport post

caek I am genuinely interested in yr source for that PNW rain prediction, my understanding is that the glaciers will be gone here in ten years but r u saying the snow will become rain?

s this something that frequently happens in Southern Hemisphere hot countries as well?

what happens to UK infrastructure when there are three days in a row of 40°C?

Climate change will make most of the world wetter. Desertification is going to be the exception rather than the rule.

Nearby glaciers that melt are not relevant to whether a place gets wetter or drier IIUC.

I don’t remember specifically where I saw anything about the PNW but it was probably in contrast to the US southwest (which is going to get drier, along with the plains).

Hydro, wind, and solar for generation in WA specifically. The nukes have all been shut down/core drilled. The PNW is well connected to the western grid so if local generation falls short, it's readily supplied. Most of the outages in King county (greater Seattle area) have been from underground equipment failure. If the wind picks up from the big temperature swing we are supposed to see tonight, we'll probably get larger outages from tree or transmission line arcs.

About eight (?) years ago I saw a map that illustrated where climate change was predicted to increase current rainfall and where it would decrease it, and by how much. It followed a wavy horizontal line across north america, with the shift to drier south of it and the wetter shift north. That line ran almost directly through Eugene, OR and stayed more or less just below the 45th parallel across Oregon. The upshot was that annual precipitation amounts weren't predicted to change much here, but snowpacks would be much less, with rain replacing snow (which is bad).

One way to measure a heatwave is by how much temperatures have exceeded normal conditions.

By that metric, the heatwave in the Pacific Northwest has essentially tied, or possible even exceeded, the most severe summer heatwave ever observed anywhere in North America. pic.twitter.com/Mli3EvZNrE

— Dr. Robert Rohde (@RARohde) June 28, 2021

we made it at 17:29 yesterday btw!

🔥NEW ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH 🔥

Seattle reached 106° in the 2 o’clock hour, establishing a new record for hottest temperature in recorded history.

The previous record high of 104° only survived a day.

— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) June 28, 2021

calzino some backstory on that melted wire and a bunch of other electrical problems https://www.newsweek.com/extreme-heat-melts-streetcar-cable-portland-service-suspended-days-1604891

ah yeah that's interesting, it seems their heatwave related problems are more than just supply cables popping (sagging copper overhead wires looks the main prob), because SWAs can operate at greater temperatures than 110. I know the resistance in copper conductors increases in high temperatures but when they are 25 mm² they work ok in steel foundries and other very hot industrial environments

I think they figured a pic of a blown cable is a more convincing explanation, because when they start talking about sagging overhead cables it might take on a "wrong type of leaves/wrong type of snow" incredulity in inconvenienced commuters minds.

record 102°F in newark, 98°F at laguardia today, with 50-60% humidity

it's not OR/WA/BC, but it's not great

record for what? june 29? surely that's not all time.

i was wondering the same. that seems right for the east coast:

Hottest day of 2021 (so far) ☀️🥵

Preliminary high temps:

NYC: 95
JFK: 90
LaGuardia: 98R
Islip: 88
Newark: 102R
Bridgeport: 94R

R=Record high tied or broken

One more day of intense heat is on tap for the Tri-State. Heat Advisory stays in effect for most until 8 PM Wednesday.

— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) June 29, 2021

Newark is always a few degrees hotter than NYC in summer, not sure why. I'm one town over and it was 97 outside today.

Must be June records, Newark reached 108F in July 2011.

records for june 29, i'm sure

Here is where Newark temperatures are officially recorded:

https://i.imgur.com/4a0Zfge.jpg

And here is where official temps in NYC are taken:

https://i.imgur.com/OZAwpmU.jpg

the garden state

Central Park is cheating.

Seriously. "Hey, let's stick this thermometer in boiling hot tar, and lay this one on the grass surrounded by trees, and see what results we get! It's science!"

Only 95’F today in Portland

And a good time was had by all.

jogging in 95 ("feels like 98") is some damaging shit

imagine how lame we sound in the UK moaning that it's too hot to cook because it's been 28-32 degrees for the last 4-5 days!

Can confirm. Am currently in Britain, basking in the heat and mildly amused by the locals' despair.

For real, though, while I genuinely enjoy this kind of weather, the climatological implications are fucking grim.

The day my Southern folk buck up and learn to drive in an inch of snow will be the day I finally call out Northerners for melting in the 90º heat.

Over 29C in my (UK) place at 2am last night. I know it's been hotter at times the last few years but I have thermometer now. If it goes over 36C during the day I think I'll need to find somewhere else to sleep.

I mean I like the warm weather it but it gets a bit worrying in the sounthern facing attic apartment space.

you folks over there know it was 47°c in the rainforest of portland oregon less than a month ago right

basking in the heat and mildly amused by the locals' despair.

tbf it goes from 20 degrees to 30 degrees overnight and lasts for 5 days. Try getting used to that each year.

https://i.imgur.com/Vl9XCZ5.png

I mean, this is a pretty good forecast for us during late July.

the thing is, when I lived in the South (GA), the *indoor* summer temperature was around 18, which makes a pretty huge difference

The UK doesn’t feel much less humid than Arkansas in practice. Real lung weather sometimes, especially at night.

Don't know what you're all talking about, it's 14 degrees in Shetland right now.

Going by extended experiences in Montreal and Bucharest, the current UK heat wave (in Oxford, at least) is lightweight-tier in terms of how it *feels*. Imo it's just nice out.

But, to reiterate, in terms of what it means for the planet, it's a total disaster.

But things feel different depending on the standard climate one is used to! I do chuckle when I see Phoenicians in 50F/10C bundled up like arctic explorers, but I don't doubt that they truly do feel cold. Because they've just been thru 6 months of over 100F/40C.

Greetings from the northern hemisphere.

https://i.imgur.com/LpcIZg3.png

https://i.imgur.com/hJM3uk1.png

13°C not exactly too effing hot but you shouldn't be able to go for a 1am dog walk in the park wearing a t-shirt in late december in the north of England. It just isn't right. There is a breeze but it's warm wind.

see also

Rolling Western U.S. Is On Fire / Wildfires Thread

too soon

Actually considering the last few years this is late for our first 90 degree day in DC. I’m sure historically this is still very early.