Heat Wave #2 continues!

I sure hope everybody got a few sprinkles of rain yesterday as that will be it for the foreseeable future. That old pesky ridge of high pressure is once more situated right over the Midwest and you can expect some sizzling temperatures as a result. The only ‘good’ aspect will be the fact that the humidity should be pretty low which will help the nighttime temperatures to drop into the sixties. That said, you can also start figuring on record crop losses due to the drought. Some experts are now predicting food cost increases of anywhere from 5 to 10% across the board by early next year.

One hundred plus ville awaits!

Welcome to my town and sorry, its real name is actually Forsyth, Missouri. That thing about one hundred plus refers to the daily high temperatures that have become so much a part of life around these parts.

Starting around the 23^rd of June, a system known as a high pressure ridge set up shop over the Midwest. And, in of itself, that would not be very unusual, excepting the fact that this ridge remained in place for a long long time! Over a week now, with no end in sight.

Under that dome, we all sit, sweltering through hot and dry days broken only late in the evening when the exceptionally dry air undergoes 'radiational cooling' overnight. A monotonous pattern of existence that forces many to get their outdoor activities done before eleven in the morning when the temperature is already in the nineties. Then, it's time to hang out indoors, close to the air conditioner until the next morning's cool if only but brief reprieve.

Around this invisible dome, violent storms swirl almost daily. Close to a million lost power this date due to power outages that hit states to my north and east. Washington alone had 800,000 siting in the dark for a period of time. But, I consider them lucky as out to my west over four hundred have watched from afar while their homes burned to the ground. Wildfires, sweltering heat and increasingly violent weather seems to be the new haute culture courtesy of climate change.