the trials of SUMMER

[deird1]

Haven't posted about the weather, because otherwise, every day this week, I would have felt compelled to log on and write HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT all over the internet.

But now that it's over, let me tell you about the weather.


- My air conditioner was on, all day every day, all week. It was set at 23 degrees (73F).

- By keeping my air conditioner constantly set at 23 degrees, it managed to ensure that, by the end of the day, the room it was air conditioning wouldn't get higher than 30 degrees (86F).

- This seven-degrees-higher-than-I-want temperature was close enough that everyone who doesn't have an air conditioner has been walking in my front door and exclaiming at how cool it is.

- Unlike the rest of the house, which is more than 2 metres away from the air conditioner. By the end of each day, it would be just as hot inside my bedroom as it was outside the house.

- That being: 44 degrees (111F).

No, wait, that's not big enough.


44 DEGREES (111F)

Better.

- It has been boiling out there. The water bottle I keep in the car? This week, it's been hotter than I drink my tea. I kid you not.

- I have been sleeping next to the air conditioner, and I have still been too hot to sleep.


This was the state of affairs until late last night (oh blessed late-last-night, how we love thee). At which point a storm finally broke, and the brief, thunderous drops of rain cooled the place down no end.

It's now cool enough to sleep on top of my bed, naked and with no sheets (ie - a standard summer).


Here endeth the lesson.

Comments

[velvetwhip]

Having lived in Las Vegas, I feel your pain. In the summer, it was often 120F. Starting at 8AM.


Gabrielle

[deird1]

Yuck! I hope the casinos are air-conditioned?

[velvetwhip]

Every building in the city is. They have to be.


Gabrielle

[megpie71]

Well, it's looking to be another warm weekend here in Perth, so don't get too comfortable (that said, it's only going to be 36 today, heading up to 38 tomorrow and back down to 36 on Monday - they were forecasting 37 or better for all three days). So the mercury may well be climbing again for you folks in another couple of days.

[deird1]

Ohhh... don't say that...

*whimpers*

[brin_bellway]

Ouch. In my time I have known many weeks of 40, a single day of 41, and never higher.

A few days ago I was listening to a Perth radio station (come for the linguistics podcasts, stay for the livestreaming!), and at one point it went something like this:

Announcer: Hello, and welcome to the 6 AM weather forecast! It's 25 degrees at the moment--
Me: *wistful smile* *deliberately ignores the foot of snow outside and the frequent drafts of -20 air (need to look into better window insulation)*
Announcer: --going up to 44 this afternoon.
Me: O_O D:

everyone who doesn't have an air conditioner

What is with that? Every winter I see Australians complaining about how the heat is awful and they don't have air conditioners, and now I see your existent air conditioner can't cope with it. Every half-decent home in New Jersey has air conditioning perfectly capable of turning those weeks of 40 into 20*, and even my Ontarian system didn't do too badly during what I have been inwardly referring to as the Year with a Summer last year (during which I experienced that day of 41).

*Though they do break on occasion, leading to the hurried purchase of a window-mounted cooling unit and all of us huddling in the parental bedroom for a couple days.

[nimthiriel]

You may want to consider installing more air conditioners in the rest of your house, possibly more powerful ones. These sorts of heatwaves are only going to get more frequent.

[petzipellepingo]

That's just too hot. Sending cooling breezes your way asap.

[vass]

I don't have an aircon. I've never had one.

I live on the ground floor, so it's not as bad as it could be, though.

[nenya_kanadka]

Holy shit. And I thought summers in Tennessee were bad.

[eleanorjane]

Days like this, all one can do is take refuge in movie cinemas - they're always way too cold the rest of the year, but I'll take that in exchange for having a summer refuge.

My whole house is airconditioned, I have the aircons permanently set to 16 C, and they still can't cope. And I'm in Brisbane, which hasn't had anywhere near the weather that you guys have.

Sympathies!