Worldwide temperature anomalies, March to May 2007.
(Update. It was 102 in Seattle Saturday, 1 degree short of the highest temperature ever recorded here. Normal high for this date in Seattle is 73. Forecast for 110 by Monday.)
I’m currently living in the great Seattle heatwave. Seattle averages only 3 days a year over 90 degrees Fahrenheit and even then it typically goes down into the 60s at night. In the 11 years we’ve lived here we’ve never hit 100 degrees, and never really been hot at night.
In fact, Seattle has experienced temperatures of 100 or more only three times since the late 1800s, when record-keeping began, and the all-time hottest temperature in Seattle is 103 degrees, set back in late July 2009. (And, as you may know, Seattle homes are less likely to be air-conditioned than any other major American city.)
Still, we have electrical power for our refrigerator, cold water available in the shower, and one of our kids has a/c if we get too hot. However, I must admit to feeling a bit more lethargic than usual and not motivated to think and write about the meaning of life. I’m thinking more of ways to stay cool! I’m guessing there’s a lesson in that; perhaps that concerns about life’s meaning arise only after our survival needs are met.
Yet this unique situation is kinda fun too. Sort of like went the power goes out. It’s so different that it gives you the opportunity to learn from and experience something different. Of course, I hope the power doesn’t go out because that would mean no cold water.
Stay safe and make sure you drink and have salts (sodium, potassium, magnesium) too
Sirhan did the opposite of what he intended, he wanted to draw attention to Palestinians—but the effect was much different.
The summer following the assassination saw no replacement for Robert Kennedy, and we have been living in Nixon’s America ever since. Sirhan harmed the US without helping Palestinians.
I can certainly identify with your response to Ted Kennedy’s eulogy for his brother Robert. I was my college representative for Robert Kennedy’s campaign and would have been at the Ambassador Hotel the night he was shot, except for a dinner/honor I was given by my philosophy department. I can honestly say that philosophy saved me from a front row seat to that unspeakable tragedy. Oh, what could have been had the Kennedy brothers survived as well as Martin luther King. Is it only me that thinks “they” only kill the idealists? Lincoln may belong to the ages, but the Kennedy brothers certainly belong in Arlington. R.I.P.
thanks Austin.
thanks Kevin for sharing the story.
Nyaah, nyaah, nyaah! We hit 107.2ºF at 4:10 PM today. Because we have an earth-based heat pump, the system had no problem keeping us cool. Our low-temperature record here at the house is 4ºF — a much worse situation. So our high/low range is over 100ºF.
Chris the Hothead