Wichita Falls 91 Degree High Today

Three days left in the second month of 2024, with North Texas continuing to bake in a Summer-like heat wave.

I'd go swimming today, if my pool was not drained.

I could go swimming in one of the nearby lakes, if I had not determined to never do so again after being chased by a mad turtle in Lake Grapevine, along with seeing a garfish, and water moccasins.

The nearby lakes are all murky, so you can not see what lurks beneath the surface.

Most Of Texas Hotter Today Than 99% OF The Planet

Saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook. Apparently, most of Texas, along with an area of northeast Africa, and a large area of the Middle East, are scheduled to be HOTTER than 99% of the Earth planet today.

Are we actually HOTTER today, here in Texas, than the Valley of the Sun in Arizona? And Death Valley in California?

My heat pump air conditioning system is keeping the temperature a relatively cool 78 degrees in my interior space. I drove to ALDI and Walmart yesterday around 5 with the temperature a sizzling 111. 

Walmart will be my air conditioned endorphin inducing via walking fast venue today...
 

107 Deadly Degrees Roasting My Texas Location

107 degrees is the predicted high today at my North Texas location. The humidity remains high, but a strong wind will be blowing today, making those 107 degrees really feel like a relatively chilly 106 degrees.

I won't be going on a walk in the outer world today. At my advanced elderly age doing such risks a heat stroke.

So far that predicted strong wind has yet to blow a single gust...

Texas Today Starts A Prolonged And Extreme Heat Wave

Apparently my location on the planet is under a Heat Advisory from June 24, which is today, the final Saturday of June, til August 7.

That is a lot of way too HOT days.

Today the Heat Index will have 104 degrees feeling like 107 degrees.

107 degrees will have me not feeling like being outside.

I do not recollect previously seeing a warning like the one in today's weather forecast, "Hotter with plenty of sunshine, breezy this afternoon; start of a prolonged and extreme heat wave."

Yeah, a heat wave lasting from today til August 7 seems legit to describe as a prolonged and extreme heat wave.

We are being asked to try and cut back on electricity use.

I hope the Texas grid does not melt down...

Having A Heat Wave A Non-Tropical Hot Humid Heat Wave

The 12-day forecast. No relief from 100 degrees in sight.

I did not leave my abode yesterday til after 5, to go to Walmart for some extreme air conditioning.

So far the Texas grid hasn't failed. At least at my location.

The heat pump and new climate control system which was installed last summer is making this so much more tolerable than the climate control system it replaced. The new system is quiet, cool and does not use as much electricity as the previous system did.

I see the prediction for Saturday, July 23, is 104 degrees. Months ago I thought it likely I would be in Washington on that day.

If I were to go to Washington this summer I would be shivering the entire time due to being acclimated to the non-stop Texas HOT sauna steambath, with Washington feeling like someone turned the air conditioner to a way too cool setting.

With rain...

Sizzling 117 Degree Scorcher

At half past five, this Friday afternoon, I left my air-conditioned abode to use my air-conditioned motorized motion device to take me to Walmart.

When I turned the key to ignite the engine, lighting up the various information displays, I was appalled to see the temperature device was indicating I was sweltering in 117 humid degrees.

After driving a half mile, or so, the temperature lowered to 111. The wind chill factor benefit of driving 40 mph? I don't know.

What I do know is Walmart keeps their air conditioned to a cooler temperature than I keep the interior of my abode.

That and way too many people, who are way too big, wear way too little to Walmart. And way too many of them have way too many tattoos.

There currently is no end in sight for this scorching heat wave.

Tonight, around midnight, thunderstorms are predicted as possible. I am already seeing big clouds that look like they could do some loud booming.

Having A Heat Wave Hit 103

Over a month to go til the arrival of Summer.

If I remember correctly, and sometimes I do, we did not get heated to 100 in all of 2021. We did go below zero in February of that year. And now, in the year 2022, we are predicted to hit 103 tomorrow.

I am not in the mood to be that HOT.

But, on the plus side of the HEAT, my abode has a new heat pump cooling system which works quite well. Though it has not yet been tested to be cool in this much HEAT.

Yesterday I read that there is some concern the Texas grid won't be able to handle the stress of the entire state going into extreme air conditioning mode. 

If the grid goes down, like it did during that sub zero nightmare of last year, I don't think it will be quite as difficult to endure as it was to lose the ability to keep warm. And pipes won't freeze and burst upon thawing, which happened to many of my neighbors, greatly adding to the misery.

If the electric grid does meltdown, again, methinks I'll cross the border into Oklahoma and spend the day in one of the air-conditioned casinos. That is only about a 20 mile air conditioned drive north.

My Old Skagit Valley Home Zone Swelters At 100 While At Same Time I Chill In Texas At 77

 Around 5:00 o'clock this Monday afternoon, after checking my phone to see the current temperature, I checked to see the current temperature in my old home zone. 

100 degrees.

Currently my location in North Texas is chilled to 77 degrees at the same time my old home zone has a Death Valley worthy temperature. As you can see, via the below screen shot from my phone, thunder is currently booming and rain is currently downpouring, in addition to that 77 degrees chilly thing.

And yet, even though it is 77, the A/C just cycled on.

At 100 degrees, at 5 in the afternoon, it looks like Western Washington had dodged the predicted temperature apocalypse of somewhere above 110, for now...

More Snails On The Tandy Hills While The Puget Sound Bakes From A Heat Wave

I had myself another strange snail sighting today on the Tandy Hills.

Have white snails always been part of the Texas prairie landscape? Or is this yet one more foreign invasive species?

And why are the snails sliming themselves up stalks of grass?

Changing the subject from snails to me making another mistake.

Earlier today in a blogging I mentioned the Republican with the last name of Huntsman. John Huntsman.

A fellow Republican, Gar the Texas Nerd, then informed me that the correct first name for Mr. Huntsman is Jon, not John. I really appreciate Gar the Texas Nerd, or GTN as his close friends call him, taking the time to alleviate me of this bit of erroneousness.

Changing the subject again, this time from GTN to the temperature.

It was only 80 when I hit the hills today. It is only 84 right now. A couple days ago I mentioned that the Puget Sound zone was finally getting the HOT weather they'd missed in June, July and August.

I said I'd be hearing some temperature whining from the Northwest. Below is the latest example of Puget Sound temperature whining. This particular one is from Tacoma....

"We are in a heat wave. Over 80 all week. Maybe 90 on Sunday. Holy moly!!!"

Now, this particular Puget Sound dweller actually has air-conditioning in her house. Very very few Puget Sounders have air-conditioning in their house.

Speaking of air-conditioners, mine just turned on. I thought I had it turned off.

I'm out of here for a bit. Miss Puerto Rico requires my assistance with something electronic.

Half The Country Is Baking In A Monster Heat Wave With My Pool & Fort Worth's Public Pools Closed

Half the country is sweltering in Heavy Duty Heat Wave mode, with day after day temperatures over 100, with some areas feeling like it is in the 120 degree range, due to the humidity.

In a long MSNBC article about the Heat Wave, titled "Feels like 120: Half of US set to swelter again" mention was made of the Dallas-Fort Worth area's HEAT.

Mention was also made regarding the fact that Fort Worth has closed all its public swimming pools. Along with information I was unaware of, that being that four Fort Worth YMCA pools are allowing Fort Worth residents to swim for 2 hours a day, without needing to be a YMCA member.

Below is the excerpt of the part of the MSNBC Heat Wave article that pertained to Dallas/Fort Worth....

Dallas recorded its 10th-straight day of 100-degree weather Monday. The city hit 100 for nearly three straight weeks as recently as 2006, and the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory Monday afternoon for the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the first time since June 18. The advisory will remain in effect until Wednesday night.

In 1980, the Dallas-Fort Worth area endured 42 days in a row of 100-degree-and-over heat.

Little chance of rain

Triple-digit highs are expected through the weekend in Dallas, and there is little chance of rain to cool things down.

On Monday, 87-year-old R.F. Lanham was taking the heat in stride as he picked weeds in his shaded front yard in Dallas. "I've seen a lot of hot summers," he said.

As 40-year-old Sally Smith loaded two of her children into her minivan as she left a spin class at a Dallas YMCA, she said that even though she had lived in Texas for 18 years, the hot weather was hard to get used to.

"You feel like your skin is baking," the Michigan native said.

In Fort Worth, all of the city's pools are closed because of budget cuts. Through a partnership with the YMCA, Fort Worth residents can swim at four of its pools for two hours a day without a membership.

My swimming pool is not usable today. A YMCA is less than 2 miles from my location. I know it has a pool. I do not know if it is one of the four Fort Worth YMCAs opening its pool to the public.

Up Early The 4th Morning Of June In Texas Thinking About Heat Waves & Concealing My Handgun

Looking at the blue oasis through the bars of my patio prison cell this 4th morning of June it appears I am up and awake before the sun.

It is currently 72 degrees, windows open, and I just realized I am hearing no birds tweeting. Where have all the birds gone?

The sun has barely arrived at my location and it is already 72. Meanwhile up north, in the Puget Sound region of the State of Washington, the natives are preparing for the first heat wave of the year.

With a high of 79.

79 is what I set my air conditioner to.

I remember flying to Washington in July of 2004. D/FW was in the 100s when I flew away. Seattle was in the 70s when I landed. The next days were in the 70s and low 80s. The locals were bemoaning the heat wave. While I was in long pants trying to stay warm.

I have found it is easier to acclimate to heat than acclimate to cold. I shivered for an entire month the last time I was up north, July 20 - August 20 of 2008.

Yesterday I mentioned in a blogging that I got a comment from an Anonymous commenter in which the commenter said having CHL was one of the things that is great about Texas. I had no clue as to what CHL might be.

And then this morning, lifelong Texas girl, Elsie Hotpepper, alleviated me of my CHL ignorance.

CHL = Concealed Handgun License.

Is Texas the only state to have such a license? I have no idea.

I'm going swimming now, without my handgun. Because I will have nowhere to conceal it.

It's No April Fool's Joke It's Really 90 Today In Fort Worth

As you can see we have hit 90, this Friday, first day of April. I think this is the first time we've been this HOT this year.

Oddly I've felt no inclination to turn on the A/C.

I'm assuming my A/C is now working correctly, though I was not here when it was worked on.

I made the mistake of driving up to Hurst sometime after 3 this afternoon. There are so many alternative routes one can take with traffic backs up in these parts.

Except this afternoon all those alternative routes turned in to back ups. Every day I-820, due east of my abode, backs up at rush hour. At least I avoided that.

Swimming was a little cold this morning. I suspect tomorrow's swim will not end up with me in shiver mode like what happened this morning.

I must go attend to a madman and his 80,000 tree army of state of the art flood prevention devices now.

We Are Having A Texas Heat Wave For The End Of March

This afternoon I saw WeatherBug, on my computer, hit 80 for the first time in 2010. Also for the first time in 2010 I have the ceiling fan spinning above me.

Maybe the Texas I've experienced the 10 years previous has returned and I won't have to depart this state seeking a better climate more conducive to mitigating the myriad woes fracturing my fragile health.

Then again, the return of warm temperatures may have heated up the air, but it sure has not cleaned it up. I'm still breathng air contaminated by who knows what, spewed by the thousands of natural gas wells that have been poked into the Barnett Shale in Texas, including one right across the street from my abode.

When you leave Texas, via motorized transport, heading northwest, it's about when you cross into Colorado that the air starts smelling fresher. By the time the motorized transport crosses the Cascade Mountains into Western Washington the air smells like Christmas trees and seems to sparkle. That sensation does not last long.

89 for the high tomorrow. That is only 11 shy of 100. Can Level Red Ozone Alerts be far behind?

100 Degrees In The Pacific Northwest Hotter Than Texas

91.4 is not my temperature in Texas. That's the current temperature at half past one in my old hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington.

They are having themselves a HEAT WAVE. And now that it is the 90s, they are no longer being Weather Babies. They've got reason to whine.

Here in my Central Time Zone, two hours later than Pacific Time, we are not even in the 90s! In other words, it is HOTTER in Washington right now than it is in Texas.

The temperature in Seattle has gone over 100 at the National Weather Service's offices on Sandpoint Way, but the place where the official temperature is taken, that being Seattle-Tacoma Airport, the thermometer remains stuck in the 90s, with the expectation that it will go to 3 digits by the time the sun is done with its day's work.

I was in Washington in 2004 for a HOT August month. When I arrived I was cold, just like I was for my entire month in Tacoma, last year. When I arrived, in 2004, the temperature was in the 70s. The locals were whining, but I was cold. That was to end a few days later. My sister in Kent had relatives, like my mom and dad, over for a BBQ. The temperature that day was predicted to possibly break the record by getting to 100. It stalled at 98.

But it was so miserable that day. My sister has a real nice house, lots of shade, well insulated. But that house was HOT. Finally everyone left. I knew the hot tub had had its heater off for days. I told the few that remained to avert their eyes if they don't wanna see me in my boxer shorts, because I'm gonna get in that cool water. And so I did. I was staying that month in an apartment in Tacoma. It was so miserably hot that night.

Seattle Transit is advising bus riders they might not want to be on the buses today. Only 30% of the buses have air-conditioning.

I'm guessing the Puget Sound beaches are having themselves some record breaking crowds today. That's the beach by the Edmonds Ferry Dock, in the picture, taken back in 2004 during that heat wave. There is an underwater scuba diving park here and you often see seals. Edmonds is a Seattle suburb at the north end of the town.

Looking at that picture has me thinking, once more, how lucky those towns in the northwest are. So much water, all over the place, with so many fun things to do on or in the water. All natural, none of it the result of any Water Visions. I've heard of other places, not so blessed with natural water features, that come up with kooky cockamamie plans to build little lakes, thinking that people will flock to it and all sorts of businesses will spring up just to be near the murky waters of the little lake.