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larryhammerA good solstice to all and to all a good night!
Especially the latter, here, as good nights are necessary for survival, and by "good" I mean "cool." To illustrate, the temperature right now is 42°C.* Pause to let that sink in. And then another tidbit: the dew point is -9°C. Yes, that's right: more than 50 degrees difference. It's hot out there, but more importantly it's dry, dry enough the heat doesn't enervate. It feels good, actually, as it seeps into your bones -- especially the dragon's breath, our prevailing winds out of the northwest. It's dangerous, of course, but it doesn't feel it -- not until you topple over.
And you adapt. Carry water, wear a light wide-brimmed hat, change your hours: get up early, estivate at noon, turn active in the evening again. In a desert, even in an urban heat island, night is not day -- the earth radiates heat and we cool down to comfort. Last night, after day just like today, the low was 23°C -- downright comfy. When there's more moisture in the air, less heat radiates, the lows are higher, and it's, well, miserable. In a couple weeks, the monsoon moisture currently stuck in central Mexico will reach us in the form of thunderstorms -- beautiful, but muggy and with hot nights. For now, tho', we have good nights.
And now I'm going to walk 3km home through that solstice heat.
* Today's installment of the continuing local feature called Shock The Nonlocals is being presented in an Overseas Edition -- because, after all, shocking foreigners has more cache. (This may not work on any Aussies because they're used to this stuff -- but then again, you're not used to it right now.)
---L.
Especially the latter, here, as good nights are necessary for survival, and by "good" I mean "cool." To illustrate, the temperature right now is 42°C.* Pause to let that sink in. And then another tidbit: the dew point is -9°C. Yes, that's right: more than 50 degrees difference. It's hot out there, but more importantly it's dry, dry enough the heat doesn't enervate. It feels good, actually, as it seeps into your bones -- especially the dragon's breath, our prevailing winds out of the northwest. It's dangerous, of course, but it doesn't feel it -- not until you topple over.
And you adapt. Carry water, wear a light wide-brimmed hat, change your hours: get up early, estivate at noon, turn active in the evening again. In a desert, even in an urban heat island, night is not day -- the earth radiates heat and we cool down to comfort. Last night, after day just like today, the low was 23°C -- downright comfy. When there's more moisture in the air, less heat radiates, the lows are higher, and it's, well, miserable. In a couple weeks, the monsoon moisture currently stuck in central Mexico will reach us in the form of thunderstorms -- beautiful, but muggy and with hot nights. For now, tho', we have good nights.
And now I'm going to walk 3km home through that solstice heat.
* Today's installment of the continuing local feature called Shock The Nonlocals is being presented in an Overseas Edition -- because, after all, shocking foreigners has more cache. (This may not work on any Aussies because they're used to this stuff -- but then again, you're not used to it right now.)
---L.
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Date: 20 June 2008 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 21 June 2008 12:17 am (UTC)Branna, I do hope it holds off. I drove back from Moss Landing yesterday and it was 110 on the road. Killer. Odd weather for San Francisco too. The coolest room in the house is the hall, where it is 84 degrees.
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Date: 21 June 2008 01:01 am (UTC)---L.