Midwest can't get any relief from oppressive heat

[marmar]

DETROIT — When the air conditioner stopped in Ashley Jackson's Southfield, Mich., home, so too did normal conversations and nightly rest.

"Inside the house it was 91 degrees. ... I wasn't talking to anybody. Nobody was talking to anybody," said Jackson, 23, who works as a short-order cook in Detroit. "We mostly slept, but it was hard to sleep because of the heat. I probably got about four hours of sleep each night."

St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago and several other Midwest cities already have broken heat records this week or are on the verge of doing so. And with even low temperatures setting record highs, some residents have no means of relief, day or night.

The National Weather Service said the record-breaking heat that has baked the nation's midsection for several days was slowly moving into the mid-Atlantic states and Northeast. Excessive-heat warnings remained in place Friday for all of Iowa, Indiana and Illinois as well as much of Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Kentucky. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20120706/US.Heat.Wave/?cid=hero_media

[midnight]

1. 109 here in Milwaukee yesterday, and in some places 113.... It's so dry...

[marmar]

2. 92 at 10:53 a.m. here in Motown......

...... I fear the 4 p.m. temp.

[Motown_Johnny]

3. My "Weather Channel" app says 86.

but with the humidity it feels like 93.

[marmar]

5. The apps are always an hour or so behind....If you flip on Weatherscan on cable....

...... it reads 91 right now.

[pansypoo53219]

17. butbutbut WUWM said 104.

we don't have AC. i stayed up to 7 trying to get the house cool as possible for today. it didn't get under 90 w/ a fan in the window. what is aug gonna be like?!?

and could we get some RAIN!

and my cats insist on MY LAP!

[midnight]

20. I think by the time it hits 100 it doesn't much matter if our weather men say 104,106 it's awful....

You poor dear... This heat is over the top hot here in Milwaukee. One radio station warned it's a burn off your face hot outside...

A visitor from Minnesota told me a few people just dropped dead last week...

I saw clouds last evening and was hoping for the rain we need, but they seem to have moved on....

[HereSince1628]

18. And not much more than 30% chance of rain over the weekend.

Recently this feels more like Bastrop TX than WI.

[spinbaby]

19. Brush fires coming

It's drier than a popcorn fart here in Pittsburgh. In the late 80s we had fires that had a suffocating smoky haze hanging over the landscape for weeks it seemed. I'm betting we see that again.

[antigone382]

4. We've got to start building/renovating houses so they are not so dependent on air-conditioning.

I feel very fortunate to be living in a well-insulated house. I can open the windows at night and close them during the day, and keeping the fans running is enough to keep the temperature bearable. It's a major problem that most buildings cannot passively contribute to a tolerably comfortable interior temperature this way. Heating and cooling inefficiently constructed buildings is a *major* user of energy, and by extension a source of the carbon emissions that are creating these problems. We need to spread the German Passive House movement so that it becomes the standard in construction and renovation.

Of course, I'm from the South, so I consider 91 to be unpleasant but bearable. I know it is much harder for people who aren't adapted to those temperatures...they do about as well as I do in 12 degree weather.

[DCKit]

9. I think you and I have a lot to talk about. nt

[antigone382]

11. In what respect, Charlie? :)

I can tell you what I know about energy efficient building...which ain't much, but I get by...or I'd be glad to learn from whatever you know.

[a la izquierda]

10. I lived in Mexico for a year...

part of which was during the wretched rainy season. It wasn't so bad with no A/C. The floors are all tile, the walls are stucco. I was never so hot as I was last weekend, when we had no power in Columbus, OH. Brutal.
Likewise, we had no heating in the winter save for some space heaters and wool blankets. The tile floor kept the heat, as did the stucco walls.

[antigone382]

12. Yeah, passive solar with lots of thermal mass works well in the Southwest.

At least when it's dry. During the rainy season, were there problems with condensation on the tile or stucco? The big challenge for building in humid climates, as I understand it, is balancing the temperature regulating effects of insulation/adequate thermal mass with the need to prevent condensation and mold. I'd be interested to see how vernacular building methods in the Southwest held up to all the rain.

[nobodyspecial]

15. There are limits to that, however.

When it doesn't cool down at all at night, the heat just keeps building and by day three or four, you are miserable. However, basements are pretty magical.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. I went without power in Detroit from about 6:45 pm 7/4 to about 7:15 pm 7/5

and it wasn't that terribly bad.


We had rain on and off that night and in the morning so it stayed pretty cool. I closed up the house when I went to work in the morning and it was still fairly cool in the afternoon. My house is pretty much surrounded by large trees so it takes more than one hot day to heat it up.


It could have been worse. People in small apartments and people with houses that are in full sun would be much worse off than I.



I sure am glad my power is back though. It is going to be ~100 today and I know some people around here are still doing without.

[xchrom]

7. Du rec. Nt

[Auggie]

8. It's been cool along California's Northern Coast

Seems to be a much cooler summer than usual -- more coastal fog. As hot air rises in the San Joaquin Valley and Nevada deserts, the resulting vacuum draws in moist air from the Pacific. Around 5:00 pm the wind really picks up. By 8:00 pm it's actually chilly.

[SalviaBlue]

13. I'm in the Central Valley, where it is usually

brutally hot by now. We have not had any really hot days yet and at night it is really nice.

Everything is topsy-turvy.

[lunatica]

21. I live in the Bay Area

It's been cool. But it's also been pretty humid which isn't normal.

[Auggie]

22. I noticed that too

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. I bitched for years about Sf area in summer being so cold.

I admit this as I sit in the swelter of heat AND humidity in the South...sigh.

[HappyMe]

14. 102 predicted for tomorrow in NY.

95 today.
I have 2 fans going.

[AngryOldDem]

16. It's 12:30 here in Indy and already the temp is 99. High will be 103.

Tomorrow will be 104, with heat indexes close to 115.

They're saying the heat should break Sunday, but there is still little to no rain chances in the forecast.

It will be in the 80s for most of next week, but late in the week, the high will be 90. I don't know what happens after that.

This is the hottest summer in my lifetime.

[riderinthestorm]

24. It hit 104 here today (far western suburbs of Chicago). Heat index was 115

The fourth of July was worse, with a heat index of 119.

I work outside every day regardless of the weather and its brutal.

[uppityperson]

25. Did you see this weather forecast? Rather telling.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. We just had a line of thunderstorms go through Minneapolis.

It's only 82 now (down from a balmy 101). Aahhhhhhh.

[Siwsan]

27. 92 in Flint at 9:15pm and it seems to be dropping by about a degree an hour.

We hit 100 at 3:45.

It is rough when your AC goes out, as I well know. At least I'm getting rid of that excess water weight.

[patrice]

28. We got our July weather in June this year and it seems way less wind, which helped some

with the heat. No night breezes either.

[slackmaster]

29. If you can get away, come out to the California coast

It's pretty cool out here.