This weather is awful - 2022 to ?

[audreyh1]

Our daily high streak of 101F+ ended today at 65 consecutive days with a high of 98F. We averaged 10F above the historical highs for that time period. Small victory though as 98F is still 7F above the historical average high for September 11. The forecasts have us below normal later this week for the first time in over two months.

The "awful" weather that continues is the lack of rain. In terms of actual precipitation (vs historical), we had 0.09" (2.2") in July, 0.15" (2.65") in August, and ZERO (3.96") so far in September with a small chance of rain forecast in the next two weeks.

Well congrats that the streak is broken at least.

 

[MRG]

Woke up to cold dreary day. High is supposed to get to 60°, lows in the 40°s all week with a chance of rain. Some of the higher roads were getting some snow. It's turning quickly.

 

[aaronc879]

Woke up to cold dreary day. High is supposed to get to 60°, lows in the 40°s all week with a chance of rain. Some of the higher roads were getting some snow. It's turning quickly.

Not quite as cold as you but I broke down and turned the heat on for 45 minutes first thing in the morning and will do the same the next 2 days. I can tolerate heat more than cold so if it drops down near 65 inside the house I need the heat on to be comfortable during waking hours. On the flip side I already covered my A/C for the season even though it may hit mid 70's for the high for a few more days later this week and next.

 

[NW-Bound]

The forecast calls for highs around 100F, and lows around 75F for the next 2 weeks, then cooling down into fall. It looks like the terrible summer is behind us.

Still, no rain at all so far for this monsoon season. Nothing in the forecast either.

 

[Koolau]

Not quite as cold as you but I broke down and turned the heat on for 45 minutes first thing in the morning and will do the same the next 2 days. I can tolerate heat more than cold so if it drops down near 65 inside the house I need the heat on to be comfortable during waking hours. On the flip side I already covered my A/C for the season even though it may hit mid 70's for the high for a few more days later this week and next.

Yeah, we've toughed it out the past few mornings with lows in the 50s. No heat yet. Fortunately, the Old Homestead has a high thermal inertia (holds it's heat.) But tomorrow morning, it may be in the 40's with a high maybe breaking 70. Dat's pretty daan cold for dis haole boy. Be glad to get back in da Islands and be waam. Just may have to turn on da heat in da morning. YMMV

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, as I kept sayin', where it's hot like where I am, one can just put up more solar panels for the juice to run the AC.

But where it's cold and also cloudy, it's hard to keep warm without finding something to burn.

In Siberia, houses are kept warm by hot water pumped in a closed loop from a central district boiler. Imagine if you have a pump failure and the extensive pipe network gets busted because it freezes.

 

[aja8888]

Well, as I kept sayin', where it's hot like where I am, one can just put up more solar panels for the juice to run the AC.

But where it's cold and also cloudy, it's hard to keep warm without finding something to burn.

In Siberia, houses are kept warm by hot water pumped in a closed loop from a central district boiler. Imagine if you have a pump failure and the extensive pipe network gets busted because it freezes.

They won't let them freeze and will drain the pipes if necessary. They will use the water to cook their potatoes and make Vodka.

 

[eytonxav]

Well, as I kept sayin', where it's hot like where I am, one can just put up more solar panels for the juice to run the AC.

But where it's cold and also cloudy, it's hard to keep warm without finding something to burn.

In Siberia, houses are kept warm by hot water pumped in a closed loop from a central district boiler. Imagine if you have a pump failure and the extensive pipe network gets busted because it freezes.

Central boiler, sounds like a communist solution

 

[Telly]

Centralized heating - oh yeah! My big U alma mater had a central heating plant. Was coal-fired for years, eventually had signs up for blocks around it, mentioning the fall out. Ate up car paint.

All over the large extended campus, miles and miles of steam tunnels ran underground (the winters were cold, but no permafrost ). Every block or so, there were tunnel vents. These looked like a rectangular kitchen-sized table, made of concrete, lower than table height. On all four sides, set in, were metal grills to allow venting of the heat given off by the insulated pipes. They looked like nice places to sit, but were not! Could hear a hissing sound from them of steam flow.

On the coldest night(s) of the year, if below zero enough, they would have rotating "steam outs". The pipes all through the building, that had been pressurized since fall, went cold. Living in a dorm, about 2 - 5 AM or so, the contraction of the long steel pipes throughout the building, with elbows every so often to take up some movement, was quite an event!

Pent-up stress due to contraction would suddenly let go with a bang, which echoed along the pipes. Like a loud building-wide chime. Every few minutes, till they settled down. Then, after falling asleep finally, re-heat would start, waking us up again with another concert of expansion. The bangs would get less frequent, but there always was a nasty big one for a finale, well-spaced later in time to get us.

 

[Koolau]

Central boiler, sounds like a communist solution

I always thought this was the best use of waste heat from electrical plants. Distribute the waste heat (mostly in winter) to houses/businesses/industries around the plant. YMMV

 

[pacergal]

It has been in the 70s, now heading back to the high 80's-maybe even 90 this weekend, still no rain. So bad for this area, we need our lovely gray rainy days back!

 

[NW-Bound]

Central boiler, sounds like a communist solution

Eh, either that or freeze to death, your choice.

In another thread about failures of electric utilities in the US, people were thinking perhaps the gummint should step in and take over that function. We may be heading there.

Another photo of hot water pipes going from central boilers to heat residential buildings in Russia:

Here's a building that got its heating cut off. See what happens to people who do not behave?

 

[Koolau]

^^^^^^


Megacorp had pipes like that running through tunnels between buildings from the main heating plant. Everyone used those tunnels as a shortcut (and to stay out of the rain and snow.)



Heh, heh, what are you saying about gummint running the electric companies??

 

[NW-Bound]

Heh, heh, what are you saying about gummint running the electric companies??

I am saying that some people think the gummint may do a better job providing electricity than these lousy commercial utilities.

I don't trust either one, so I have been busy expanding my own power generation in my backyard. Heh heh heh...

 

[Koolau]

I am saying that some people think the gummint may do a better job providing electricity than these lousy commercial utilities.

I don't trust either one, so I have been busy expanding my own power generation in my backyard. Heh heh heh...

Never fear, we have BOTH! At the same time!

The company "runs" the business and the gummint sets all the policies. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, yeah. Black outs, Lahina, skyrocketing costs and utility bills. Other than that...

 

[NW-Bound]

And you don't have a home solar+battery yet?

 

[Koolau]

And you don't have a home solar+battery yet?

If I owned a house instead of a condo, I just might have those things.

We are fairly vulnerable in that we have essentially one grid per Island. We can lose (and have lost) the entire grid for up to 18 hours in the past. Also, we are the most isolated, inhabited place on Earth. Our oil supply lines are very long and we have been forced to change our suppliers due to geopolitical issues. With those (and other) things in mind, I do kinda wish I could store some juice. I've thought about one of those 4-Patriot type storage units. We use 5KWh/day now, so not sure how long such a beast would last. I'm not even sure that our internet would be live if we lost Island power. Other than that (including TV/cable) we only have the fridge as a priority - and that, apparently, uses about 1KWh/day.


It's something to think about.

 

[MC Rider]

^^^^^^


Megacorp had pipes like that running through tunnels between buildings from the main heating plant. Everyone used those tunnels as a shortcut (and to stay out of the rain and snow.)

Mu school had tunnels with pipes etc under the campus, that I explored with a friend back in the day. Don't think we were supposed to be in there, but the entry grate was not secured.

 

[statsman]

It appears some of us in Central Texas are seeing a good amount of precipitation this morning, along with a lightning show. Yesterday, we received 0.35" of rain for the day, so I figured that's what the forecasted storms were going to be like in the next couple of days.

Around 2am this morning, it started raining lightly. By 3:30am, we had accumulated 0.25". Then it started to rain harder, for the first time in over three months. By 4am, rain totals had reached 0.85". Yay, a decent rain storm! By 5am, rain totals had reached almost 2", and we're currently at 2.1" since 2am.

 

[Car-Guy]

Yep, UAP's here too. (It's been a while so I wasn't sure it was really rain. And it's in the lower 70's.

 

[eytonxav]

We just had very light rain on and off over the past 24 hrs. I was expecting a much more significant rain event that would fill our neighborhood ponds. I guess our more southerly neighbors are faring better.

 

[NW-Bound]

If I owned a house instead of a condo, I just might have those things.

We are fairly vulnerable in that we have essentially one grid per Island. We can lose (and have lost) the entire grid for up to 18 hours in the past. Also, we are the most isolated, inhabited place on Earth. Our oil supply lines are very long and we have been forced to change our suppliers due to geopolitical issues. With those (and other) things in mind, I do kinda wish I could store some juice. I've thought about one of those 4-Patriot type storage units. We use 5KWh/day now, so not sure how long such a beast would last. I'm not even sure that our internet would be live if we lost Island power. Other than that (including TV/cable) we only have the fridge as a priority - and that, apparently, uses about 1KWh/day.

It's something to think about.

If you use only 5 kWh/day, then it's so easy and cheap. A 5-kWh battery plus a 2-kW inverter will set you back about $2K, with solar panels optional. The question is whether you lose power often enough to make it worthwhile. If you can have some PV panels to reduce the consumption on the grid, then the economics is different.

I guess the shipping cost to Hawaii is high, else with the expensive electricity rate there I expected to see PV panels mounted every which way. People say you don't need AC, but most of the times I was there, I wished I had an AC. Maybe I missed the low humidity of the SW.

 

[Flyfish1]

Beautiful day in coastal CT today. Bright sun, wind slowed down and it got up to 76 degrees.
Waiting for Hurricane Lee to show up tomorrow evening. But fortunately it has veered east towards Maine and I think all we are looking at is some wind..gusts to 20 - 30 kts. Hopefully not a big deal for us or my kids in Boston. Beach erosion and heavy seas are a different matter. Block Island Sound is to expect 6-9 ft seas. It will be way worse up in Maine.

 

[Koolau]

Mu school had tunnels with pipes etc under the campus, that I explored with a friend back in the day. Don't think we were supposed to be in there, but the entry grate was not secured.

Heh, heh, a friend of mine at megacorp had a son who was arrested in the university steam tunnel system. He was not aware that they had actually installed motion detectors in the tunnels. Apparently, they'd had incidences of folks traveling between dorms (for some unknown reason) in the tunnels. Or else, maybe there were large rodents using them and eating wiring - I'm not sure which story is true (I like the first one better.) YMMV

 

[MC Rider]

Heh, heh, a friend of mine at megacorp had a son who was arrested in the university steam tunnel system. He was not aware that they had actually installed motion detectors in the tunnels. Apparently, they'd had incidences of folks traveling between dorms (for some unknown reason) in the tunnels. Or else, maybe there were large rodents using them and eating wiring - I'm not sure which story is true (I like the first one better.) YMMV

Were there motion detectors 40+ years ago? I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has run. Also there is no proof.