Storm the Field

https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/houston/year-2022#may It got hotter than usual the first weekend in May and stayed that way for a few weeks. Late May and early June were average. Blastfurance really kicked into gear around the 2nd week of June, and then went into overdrive for a 30-day stretch from around 6/20 to 7/20, but we're talking mostly days around 99-101, not 105-107. Only hit triple digits 8x in July 2022, and never longer than 4 days in a row. Even at its worst, we'd catch a breather occasionally. The hottest 4-day stretch of the entire summer was 7/9-12 when it was 102, 104, 103, 101. We're going on like 5 straight weeks of that shit with more to come. August 2022 was pretty average, hot and rainy. By this point, we were well over the hump and trending in the right direction. On this exact weekend last year it rained non-stop and never got above 92. The final 10 days of August averaged about 92/78 with lots of clouds. By 9/2 we got a legit cool front. It's the interminable, never-improving nature of Summer 2023 that takes the cake. Other parts of the country experience extreme heat waves, but they last 10 days or so, not 3 months. Like, currently there's extreme heat in Nebraska and Kansas. Wichita is hitting 109 today and will be roasting for most of next week, but by next weekend, they'll be back to 90/65. Denver is getting cooked at the moment, but will have highs of 85 or less within a week or so.

Forecast high of only 95 on Tuesday, but otherwise, it appears Houston is on schedule to hit triple digits every other day of August. Tomorrow looks like it could be the hottest day of all. 106! Gonna blow out the previous record for August 20th by at least 5 degrees. Hit 100 once in August 2022. Zero times in August 2021. Most miserable Summer of my life and it just keeps getting extended. Every time there's a glint of hope in the forecast, I check the next day and it takes a turn for the worse. You thought last weekend was hot? We'll here's the exact same thing this weekend. And for good measure, we'll do it again next weekend too. The beatings will continue until morale improves! Current forecast for Saturday of Labor Day Weekend is 99 with a chance of rain. Normally that would be a goddamn disaster, but here I am praying it might come true.

That seems like a rather extreme outlier. Other sites are showing a high of 104-106 next Friday for Austin and have this weekend hotter than next.

Furnace Creek, CA (in the middle of Death Valley National Park) is going to end up getting more rainfall than Houston for the month of August. Seriously, this place:

You wanna get really ticked off, go to the monthly forecast and see what the weather "should" be. 103/80 today. Average is 95/76. Forecast for next Sunday is 103/80 again. Average is 94/74. Gonna be real fun in mid-September when we're still having 100/80 days that should be 90/72.

Jesus, just checked the most current forecast and am now depressed. Latest models all have that gulf system heading towards Corpus We ain't getting shit for relief. Forecast for next week, apart from maybe some slightly lower highs Monday-Wednesday, is just hot as shit again Thursday through next Sunday. Nothing to get excited about through September 1st.

Oh now you've done it.

Quiet, fool! You'll summon one of the "Uhh, it's summer in Texas, it always gets hot" goblins.

A wise man once said the "theoretical" odds of plugging in a USB correctly are 50:50, but the "actual" odds a million to one.

Simpsons did it.

Getting a brief reprieve is better than no break at all, but seems a little cruel to give us a 12-hour teaser tolerable conditions on a weekday and then follow it up with 4 of the hottest days of the entire year through the weekend.

Some interesting data in a CCA email I saw this morning regarding trout populations after the February 2021 freeze, and how they've recovered since. An interesting nugget from the article said that, based on data from previous freezes, it takes 3 full years for the trout population to recover from a major die-off, but even longer for the size and age distributions of those fish to get back within historical averages. So, if you're like me and fishing has been fairly slow the last few years, and you tend to catch a lot of undersized young-uns when they are biting, there ya go.

From TPWD this morning:

Went kinda viral yesterday. Got posted in a bunch of FB groups and a huge crowd showed up yesterday evening.

SCW did a post years ago compiling the last 125 or so years of Houston weather records and the average day on which we get our first real front (what they call "Fall Day", defined as a low temp of 65 or less) is September 18th. Over that span, Fall Day has come as early as 8/30 and as late as 10/13.

$500(ish) is the norm around here in NW Florida Cool. From online research, was seeing anywhere from 450-700.

Native American Black Metal? Sure, why not. I dig it. Sounds to me a bit like if High on Fire was a Black Metal band.

Anyone got an idea of how much a spray-in bedliner is gonna run me?

This thread is making me crave an end to this god-awful summer more than ever. Haven't touched my bike in over 2 months. Love to ride, but really only have time to go on long rides on weekends, and I'm just not willing to do so when it's 102 and 80% humidity. One day I'll be able move out to where the weather is more hospitable and there are actual trails to ride and I'll probably become obnoxiously into cycling. Until then, I'm stuck riding on pavement in the city for the handful of months when it's actually enjoyable.

Holy shit, LOL, from the comments:

First morning in months that I walked out of the gym and my glasses didn't fog up so bad I couldn't see. Got home and drank my coffee out on the back porch and enjoyed this tiny window of sanity. We'll be right back to punishment the next several days. Forecast making it look like Sunday may end up being the hottest day of the entire year in Houston. Current forecast high of 105. Oh, and yesterday's 58% chance of rain on 8/22 is now down to 24%. So, that's fun.

Been noticing a ton of doves flying around my neighborhood the past week or so. Saw a good amount out at the deer lease this past weekend too. Getting my hopes up for the season in a few weeks.

Houston still muggy this morning, but the front should start dropping humidity levels as the day progresses. Dewpoints tomorrow morning are awesome as long as you're at least 30 miles from the coast.

Today's report was retail sales, not retail prices.

Successful trip. Hot as hell, but got some work done without keeling over from heat stroke. Super dry out there as I suspected, and currently a burn ban in place so couldn't have started up a fire even if it was cool enough to make sense. Good news was that everything at the camp house was in working order. AC, fridge, hot water....etc. Area around the camp was pretty overgrown, but we got it trimmed up. Based on the expiration date of some shit in the fridge, looks like last person to stop by was sometime in late March or early April. On the bad side, out of 4 stands currently set up, there's only a single feeder/stand combo that's currently suitable and it's the furthest from the camp down a pretty tough road. 4WD absolutely required. The feeders at 2 other stands were in "rough but still usable" shape last year, but are now completely shot and need to be replaced entirely. The other feeder that's in probably the best situated location on the property appeared to have been the victim of some racoon shenanigans. Battery and control panel were ripped out and laying on the ground but it looks like we may be able to just re-connect them. Wires all still intact. The stand at that feeder is in rough shape. Can probably patch it up enough to be usable this season, but before long it'll need to be replaced entirely. Turns out, if you actually want to have a functioning deer lease, you need people stopping by more often than once every few months in the off-season to do maintenance, land-clearing, filling feeders...etc. There has obviously been no consistent feeding going on for a long while. Gotta get a decent size crew out there for a work weekend soon if we want to have more than single functional stand come November.