We're all experiencing an unusually warm summer on the eastern side of the Atlantic.


And perhaps more worryingly.....


Europe swelters under heat wave

So how is your summer going?



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 08-06-2003).]

That's pretty scary about France, a country that gets 70% of their electricity from nuclear generating plants!

Had a high of 104 today with a heat index of 115. It's supposed to remain this high the rest of the week
Can't seem to get a drop of rain!

Hello Paul, be carefull and drink plenty of fluids. I hope it's cooling down at night since A/C is not the norm in your residences.

Roger

Well, here in NJ it's been HUMID, 80-90 degrees, and it's rained for about ten days, and is supposed to stay the same 'till next week.

Not a steady rain, but some of the wildest thunderstorms we've had in a while. One city got 4" of rain in about 1-1/2 hrs.
Flash floods, etc.

Other than that, a typical NJ summer...seems like we go from winter to summer without a spring. THe people at the "shore" have been complaining about the weather all season. (May, June & part of July) And so far, August looks like a bummer for them.

My philosophy; I wake up in the morning, my eyes open, I'm alive!! It's a good day.

John

John: EXCELLENT philosophy.

Paul:
I'm also in NJ. Just last summer, there was a restriction on water usage. Now, we're getting these daily cloud-dumps. We started off with almost a solid month of rain after all of that snow this past winter. My children have yet to experience springtime weather, but boy did they enjoy that snow!

It seems like the worst may be past in Denver but July was a scorcher. Day after day of 95+. Of course, the only day it officially cleared 100, I was at home building a fence (what did the world do before air nailers?). That snow picture reminded me of one storm here last winter. We didn't get plowed out for 2 days and we live in town.

104 degrees in kamloops bc canada wild fires started here 6 days ago gee i only thought this happened in southern california www.pep.bc.ca

[This message has been edited by dougwells (edited 08-07-2003).]

It seems to be the same way here in recent years, with the weather changing from winter to summer with a very short spring.

The weather people are telling us that the pattern is likely to continue in the following decades, perhaps with England getting summers this warm every couple of years.

It's summer?!
I have been so busy that I hadn't noticed.

after a blistering 4 year drought in NC, we're getting rain most every week for the past year. i think i heard people in the know say this is the wettest year in the last 100 or so. and its been relatively mild all of which makes for a nice change of pace.

yup, flooding...
just the other day i was close by to a local fire chief, whom was viewing trees and rocks the size of volkswagons traveling via river into town...

he called up the FC in the town downstream, said something to the effect of "guess what your gettin!"

Well, I geuss its time for someone like me to get on the SUV/truck soapbox. Read an article the other day that says many people will be buying those bigger gas guzzlers this year and that is what many auto manufacturers are betting on. Most said they were going for the bigger Ford F250 four door models for their all around use. Other manufacturers were mentioned. Now I say thats ok if you need it for real work. But it is not required to haul the kids to school in, sitting there in traffic for 30 minutes burning a lot of gasoline and emitting a multitude of unburned hydrocarbons into the air and causing global warming. Nor is it required to go the local grocery store, restaurant or to take the kids to soccer practice. More economical transportation is readily available for those chores. Bear in mind, I don't belong to the greenpeace organization, or any enviromentally active group. However, I do think we here in the US should be a little more concientious toward the environment, and what we are leaving to our children and grandchildren. After all, our parents and grandparents didn't leave us with a big mess to clean up.
I'm sure there are many out there who don't even think about the results of driving a big gas burner that emits hundreds of pounds of stuff into the atmosphere every year. And all this stuff goes into the upper layers of of our atmosphere causing, you guessed it, global warming. Of course, SUVs and big trucks don't do it all but with so many millions of them on the road, they contribute a remarkable amount to the problem.
I'm sure this will bring a lot of remarks. Lets just see.

The reaction to this global warming thing varies from country to country. The Russians think it is great. A lot of more farmland and faster growing trees. And no more -50°C in the winter.

Us Scandinavians aren't as thrilled, as it could mean the end to the transatlantic winds and the Gulf stream keeping us warm. We steal the heat from the east coast of the US and Canada.

I wouldn't worry. The gas price will be too high to allow cars to run on gasoline in 50 years. I know they have been saying that we will run out of oil for 50 years now. We won't. There is plenty of oil. It's just costly to extract. Did you ever wonder why the gas prices won't come down? It's because there is simply no cheap oil anymore.

Well.... I know of a coupla "EPA Superfund" sites in my area that weren't put here by my generation.

Back to the topic We had a 109 degree heat index at 11:00 A.M. this morning.Ellington Field reached a heat index of 118 yesterday.

It hasn't been real Hot on LI recently, but it sure has been wet!

Donnie,

What's your pool temp up to now?


Bill

Paul,
Saw the late news the other night.
There were people bathing in the fountain outside Buckingham Palace!.
Queen Victoria would not have been amused!.

It was so hot in Dallas yeaterday(108) I saw Satan himself serving Kool-Aid. I really must say that the Port-O-Lets are no fun in the heat. You guys know exactly what I mean LOL.............

I feel for you guys, suffering in that heat. Me, I'm working in the balmy, cool breezes of Las Vegas. Many times, most people's high is our low. I've seen it 104 degrees at 4:00 a.m. here.

Yes, it's dry heat, but so is the oven! Rooftops are blistering hot and attics are just sweltering. The sun sure is bright here in the desert, if you try to work outside without sunglasses you'll have a splitting headache in a few hours and crow's feet like Clint Eastwood by the end of the day.

Only a couple of months more of intense heat before the highs are back down into the double digits.

Not that I'm complaining. I'm working nights for the next 6 weeks, indoors, air conditioned! Ha ha ha

No fountain outside Buckhingham Palace:


It's more likely the pictures were of Trafalgar Square:


Or maybe the lake in nearby St. James's Park:



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 08-09-2003).]

We just had another amazing downpour here:



It's been like this for the past couple of weeks--unbearable humidity, not extremely hot but just uncomfortable. Then the sky opens up, and then back to the sticky weather.

This reminds me of when I visited Disney World (Florida) about 20-something years ago.

Posted by WARREN1

Well then I guess its time for someone like me to give you a response.

Words By Dennis Leary


For the complete uncensored lyrics go here
http://www.endor.org/leary/

Bob

[This message has been edited by iwire (edited 08-10-2003).]

Now here's a story for the history books:

UK hits 100F for first time


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 08-10-2003).]

At least some are enjoying the heat.

Paul what is the average temp you are accustomed to.

We have 100F once in a while where I live.

Bob

People vote thier wallets on sound bites and bumper stickers WARREN1

so as long as Joe-Bag-O-Donuts or your garden variety soccer mom hasn't got it any worse, S/He won't be too worried about our children being enviromental paupers.


btw~
Leary (IMHO) even makes the right wingers look bad

In general, we don't have anything like the extremes of either heat or cold that many parts of the U.S. experience.

Here are the Monthly averages for Gatwick Airport , in the southeast of England.

Statistics don't always tell the full story though. A constant topic of conversation in Britain in the way the weather is so changeable. The average July high may be in the low 70s, but we can have a day or two up to 80, then the next few days it's gray and miserable and the mercury struggles to reach 60.

But certainly anything above the low 80s is unusual, even in the height of summer.

So 100F has got to be really hard on people.

That is pretty scary about the French having to resort to "external cooling methods" for their reactors.

Bob

A problem for anyone who doesn't like the heat is that air-con is considered a luxury here, at least in private homes. The average summer temperatures just don't warrant the expense.

There still seems to be quite a discussion going on as to whether this year "beats" the long hot summer of 1976. The absolute maximum temperature records have been broken, but 1976 had weeks of consistently hot weather.

Anyone of my generation who grew up in England will remember 1976 for the weeks we spent sleeping in tents in the back yard! (Great fun, as I was 10 at the time ).

i checked it a coupla days ago and it was at 92F. Today our high was only 94 with a heat
index of 101F. We are finally starting to see a few thunderstorms in our area. There were a few around Houston Friday with 89MPH winds.

Donnie,

Whoa!
How does it feel when the water's that hot?
I always thought of jumping in a pool to cool off, but that's getting close to Hot Tub temps!

Bill

Bill,
When the heat index is as high as we have been seeing, 92 is cool. The kids love it, but I try really hard to think of a reason to go in the house and suck up some a/c.

paul

i remember the summer of 76. but i was a kid so it was just a long hot summer.

i leave\escape the country and things happen, not only the good summer but after years of standing at fratton park with half a dozen other fools,,,,,,,,,portsmouth fc are now in the premiership.

Andy,

Just console yourself with some of the other things you've left behind, like 17.5% sales tax, property taxes spiraling out of control, and real estate prices getting so high in the south of England that pretty soon nobody starting out wil be able to afford to buy anything!

i hear you paul, it was the taxes in england that helped me make my decision to leave, ( my last 2 uk wage packets were taxed at 54%)i was a plc and failed the "are you really self employed or have you got a 2 year open ended contract" questionaire.
but new york is a very exxpensive place to live compared with a lot of other parts of the states.my appartment costs me $1100 a month to rent compared to my uk mortgage , which was about $250 a month. .i pay the same for a months electric here that i payed for 3 months worth in england, and the car insurance is crazy. food and stuff is about the same and there are a lot more perks with living here than in england. all in all i do ok and hopefully ill be getting a raise and bonus soon which should pay for my ducati. wifey just got a new car (essential) , so its my turn for some retail therapy next.

Yeah, I understand about NYC being expensive. I've visited there, and it was good to see the city that I'd heard about for so long, but small-town and rural America hold more attraction for me.

I've gotten to the point where I don't much care for big cities in any country, despite being born in London!

Paul, it is hot and dry here. Just did an underground and it was dry clear down to the 30" level. The trencher was bucking like a fine rodeo horse. I have never been that tired after using a chain trencher. But it did sprinkle here a little today, just enough to make the dirt crusty on top. Gatorade is now bought by the quart and lasts about 30 minutes!

Just Like to post a followup from the BC Wildfires of 2003
http://www.2003firestorm.gov.bc.ca/firestormreport/default.htm

Summer has been offically cancelled here.
It's pouring with rain and the outside temperature is about 8*C.
We've had HUGE floods up in the North Island and there is more rain and nasty weather to come.
But hey, we might have a hot Winter, who knows!.