Blastfurnace 2024

[4th&Five 41985]

7 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

It's quiet and cheap. Plus there's a low tier football team to follow. 

Oh and not hot as Satan's taint in the summer.

My wife’s best friend who grew up in San Diego and lived in San Francisco for about 10 years after high school ended up in BHam and they love it. She’s a psychologist and they live like royalty there. Huge lake house a couple hours away. You could do much worse. 

[Larry T. Spider 1747]

I wouldn’t say that Birmingham is on my retirement list but you can definitely do a lot worse. They have enough good bars and restaurants to keep you entertained, a decent downtown scene, and you are closer to getting four seasons. It’s an easy drive to the beach, Atlanta, or Nashville. Buying a nice house is cheap as hell and they do have some very nice neighborhoods. Metro population is over 1.1 million. Natural beauty isn’t great but better than I expected with hills and trees kinda similar to the western part of Austin.

Cons are crime is pretty bad but the nicer hoods won’t have an issue. You don’t escape red state politics if that’s important to you. You can get dropped off at the airport and be at your gate in 3 minutes but almost all flights are going to have a connection.

[InkaUtexas 26860]

Got it, Birmingham is pretty cool, @MissingInAction is going to move there, someone is hooking him up with a shrink that has a lake house. He will make sure the Surly road trip team to SEC has a stop over to shit shower and shave, crime can be iffy, stay in your hood.

Shit, maybe tell all the people moving to Central Texas. Hey, you can have this 15 years ago AND it rains.

Meanwhile, the Surly says.

And Back to the weather. It is gonna be hot. And never rain again.

 

Edited August 18 by InkaUtexas

[NorthLoop 14463]

I wish I was as optimistic as weatherbug. 

[bolverk 30313]

I'm seeing 107°/106° for Tuesday and Wednesday on one app and 108°/106° for those same days on another.

 

[4th&Five 41985]

[InkaUtexas 26860]

46 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

I wish I was as optimistic as weatherbug. 

Well we know you won't get any rain right?

[NorthLoop 14463]

8 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

Well we know you won't get any rain right?

I'll gladly take no rain if that high of 89 holds true.

[InkaUtexas 26860]

48 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

I'll gladly take no rain if that high of 89 holds true.

If we get rain then the temperature should go down right? I would take rain over 1-2 days of still hot weather.

[Pato del Muerto 53453]

1 hour ago, NorthLoop said:

I'll gladly take no rain if that high of 89 holds true.

Because they are so good at guessing 10 days out.  Might as well grab the almanac and see what it says for 8/26. 

[gofuckyourself 9077]

Public Service Announcement:

We're all gonna die.

Also, "Hot" is low-key trolling.

[Texzilla588 772]

Well fortunately they will be in 72 degree classrooms kept cold during the hottest time of the year. And good thing every school bus in Texas has AC.

Coddled kids. We went to school back when schools had open windows to get the temp down to the 104 outside.

Parents told us to shut up. “You don’t have to get a school vacation to pick cotton in this heat like we did!”

[NorthLoop 14463]

26 minutes ago, Texzilla588 said:

Coddled kids. We went to school back when schools had open windows to get the temp down to the 104 outside.
 

Not unless you're 25 years old, or you grew up in Arizona. 

[Storm the Field 5366]

Welp, we made it most of the Summer without suffering through extended periods of triple digits, but the next 72-96 hours are really gonna suck. If you'd like to take a trip down memory lane to the misery of last Summer, pretty good chance that tomorrow between 4-7 will be the highest temperature readings of the entire calendar year (107 in Austin, 103 in Houston). It will still be in the high 90's at sundown tomorrow evening and won't drop into the 80's until damn near midnight. 

Fortunately the high pressure heat dome that's currently parked over Texas should start to dissipate and temps should go back to just normal late August levels of shitty by this weekend. 

[swraith 348]

If summers were like the July 2024 we just had, I wouldn't bitch nearly as much about living here.  However, August 2024 is reminding me of just how terrible the summer of 2023 was.

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20907]

4 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

Welp, we made it most of the Summer without suffering through extended periods of triple digits, but the next 72-96 hours are really gonna suck. If you'd like to take a trip down memory lane to the misery of last Summer, pretty good chance that tomorrow between 4-7 will be the highest temperature readings of the entire calendar year (107 in Austin, 103 in Houston). It will still be in the high 90's at sundown tomorrow evening and won't drop into the 80's until damn near midnight. 

Fortunately the high pressure heat dome that's currently parked over Texas should start to dissipate and temps should go back to just normal late August levels of shitty by this weekend. 

I'm really looking forward to late August levels of shitty. 

[UTGrad98 2332]

Fuck this shit. 107 right now in dfw. AC hasn't stopped all day and can't keep the house temp below 77 no matter what we set it on. This better be it. The models are telling me this is it. This is the last day of shitty ass 105+ temps for the year....probably. 

 

[Trey3216 15452]

15 minutes ago, UTGrad98 said:

Fuck this shit. 107 right now in dfw. AC hasn't stopped all day and can't keep the house temp below 77 no matter what we set it on. This better be it. The models are telling me this is it. This is the last day of shitty ass 105+ temps for the year....probably. 

 

It's basically the first day and last day of 105+ temps for almost everyone in the state.  It sucks ass, but I'm well aware of TX in August.  It's just when it's late May - Oct that really sucks the life out of you.  

[HenryJames 67323]

6 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

It's basically the first day and last day of 105+ temps for almost everyone in the state.

 

[Trey3216 15452]

5 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

 

I said "basically" motherfucker!!!   lol    Fucking literal shit.  3-5 days all summer over 105 with likely around 15-23 days over 100 for the summer.....I'll take that shit every time. 

[MissingInAction 25554]

Hello furnace, my old friend.

I've come to bake in you again.

Because the heat came in creeping

Left my arms and cheeks glistening

And the swamp, that has crept into my ass

Shall not pass

Until heard the sounds, of NOEL!

[MontereyMX 952]

[InkaUtexas 26860]

User name does not check out.

[closetohumping 17803]

I’m just glad one of my hoa pools are heated out here.  Bit too cold to swim at night now

[Storm the Field 5366]

Walked out of my office around 6:30 yesterday evening. The "breeze" blowing into the parking garage felt like someone was aiming a hair dryer directly in my face. Blastfurnace indeed.

2 days of extreme heat ahead in Houston before we get some relief. A wet bulb temperature over 90 is basically "spend as little time outside as possible."

"Nice" isn't the word, but it will be relatively decent this weekend. High of only 95 on Saturday.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

Meanwhile, they closed most of the neighborhood pools in Austin because a lot of lifeguards are going back to school.

[texasdago 7767]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Meanwhile, they closed most of the neighborhood pools in Austin because a lot of lifeguards are going back to school.

Ramsey is a bummer.  It was my "Office pool"

https://www.austintexas.gov/pools-splashpads

 

[ztejas 44223]

1 hour ago, Storm the Field said:

Walked out of my office around 6:30 yesterday evening. The "breeze" blowing into the parking garage felt like someone was aiming a hair dryer directly in my face. Blastfurnace indeed.

2 days of extreme heat ahead in Houston before we get some relief. A wet bulb temperature over 90 is basically "spend as little time outside as possible."

"Nice" isn't the word, but it will be relatively decent this weekend. High of only 95 on Saturday.

TIL what that is.

"Even heat-adapted people cannot carry out normal outdoor activities past a wet-bulb temperature of 32 °C (90 °F), equivalent to a heat index of 55 °C (131 °F). A reading of 35 °C (95 °F) – equivalent to a heat index of 71 °C (160 °F) – is considered the theoretical human survivability limit for up to six hours of exposure."

[Blotto 24011]

Just landed in boston where its a glorious 69 right now. I'm quagmiring all over town

[txduck87 1021]

Just landed in boston where its a glorious 69 right now. I'm quagmiring all over town

Are you familiar with the term “Go Fuck yourself”?

If so, please commence doing so.

[NoRagrets 1137]

I’m so glad it’s going to COOL DOWN to 101* for my son’s football scrimmage on Thursday. 

[GreenspointTexas 9959]

Lol the grid is going down tonight around 8pm

[crash_davis 23468]

2 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Lol the grid is going down tonight around 8pm

Not according to this graph. Where are you seeing this?

https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards/supplyanddemand

[gofuckyourself 9077]

6 hours ago, txduck87 said:

Are you familiar with the term “Go Fuck yourself”?

If so, please commence doing so.

Co-signed.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

9 hours ago, texasdago said:

Ramsey is a bummer.  It was my "Office pool"

https://www.austintexas.gov/pools-splashpads

 

Went by there this afternoon and the water was clear/blue, and the pumps were running.   Really tempted to walk down tonight and take a dip, but I’ll end up In the hospital trying to scale the fence.

There was a group of us willing to do the city lifeguard training and staff it in the evenings, but the city said no.

[texasdago 7767]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

 

Went by there this afternoon and the water was clear/blue, and the pumps were running.   Really tempted to walk down tonight and take a dip, but I’ll end up In the hospital trying to scale the fence.

There was a group of us willing to do the city lifeguard training and staff it in the evenings, but the city said no.

Man and that water stays nice and cool all summer long.  

[Biff Tannen 46151]

Forgetting to turn my upstairs AC down until I go to bed is the suck. Going to be a good hour until it’s comfortable enough to get some good sack time. 

[atomheartbevo 90636]

2 hours ago, texasdago said:

Man and that water stays nice and cool all summer long.  

Because the neighborhood/park association bought the aerator for the pool a while back and when it runs at night, it does in fact drop the temps quite a bit.

I'd imagine that with it off, it's going to be a warm bath.

[InkaUtexas 26860]

7 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Because the neighborhood/park association bought the aerator for the pool a while back and when it runs at night, it does in fact drop the temps quite a bit.

I'd imagine that with it off, it's going to be a warm bath.

   

[BurntEyes 6291]

Lots of things I miss about Texas, summer weather not being one of them. But the cicada departure is a potential issue here, apparently.

[MissingInAction 25554]

It feels like I'm breathing air straight out of a BBQ pit without the taste.

[texasdago 7767]

52 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

It feels like I'm breathing air straight out of a BBQ pit without the taste.

Went outside this morning around 6:45 AM... honestly not bad.  Please please let next week actually be better.

[InkaUtexas 26860]

What time does the grid collapse this evening?

[crash_davis 23468]

21 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

What time does the grid collapse this evening?

https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

No threats of collapse. The grid is performing quite well. Solar is kicking ass.

[InkaUtexas 26860]

7 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

No threats of collapse. The grid is performing quite well. Solar is kicking ass.

Yep, also kicking my gardens ass.

[crash_davis 23468]

1 minute ago, InkaUtexas said:

Yep, also kicking my gardens ass.

Well yea...that too unfortunately.

[InkaUtexas 26860]

Just now, crash_davis said:

Well yea...that too unfortunately.

Just gotta grow shit that can take it.

[bolverk 30313]

7 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Just gotta grow shit that can take it.

Might I suggest planting some of these?

[crash_davis 23468]

Apropos this thread. After the Icepocalypse shit show and the repeated calls for conservation over the last couple of years, it seems like the energy sector and the state leadership got their shit together about maintaining a healthy grid. We prob will still get the occasion conservation warning during the early spring when facilities are offline for maintenance and we get a couple of 90 degree days which is going to stress supply, but at least summers look to be mostly solved.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/texas-power-grid-holding-record-demand-thanks-to-renewables-and-battery-storage/269-278934aa-e7a8-4af1-bc6c-a319ec604139

In June, CEO Pablo Vegas predicted a 12% chance of blackouts in August, but that hasn't happened. During a board meeting in Austin on Tuesday, Vegas and other officials credited new energy sources that have been brought online as to why it hasn't happened.

Most of these new energy sources have been solar, wind and battery storage.

“Battery storage is really very important as the sun goes down," University of Houston Energy Fellow Ed Hirs said. "Then we need batteries to pick up because ... Everyone gets home, turns on their air conditioners. They want to be cool at night.”

Hirs added that natural gas, nuclear and coal-fired power plants are strained and that Texas can't do it without the solar and wind kicking in.

Meanwhile, ERCOT's board spent most of Tuesday's meeting talking about the next steps after three aging gas-fired units near San Antonio will close in March 2025.

Unlike during August 2023, ERCOT has not issued any calls for conservation this summer.

[MissingInAction 25554]