h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Will that be low because of the heat or high because of Aircon? I can't imagine those temperatures without it

We had one lovely summer day yesterday and today has returned to normal - dull and showery, breezy too.

for tea tonight. Well, it will help us pretend it is summer

Take care,

Websailor

That's high because of a/c, and I don't even have it on during the night!

105 today.

Sill waiting for Summer here Glad you've got AirCon

Everything is growing so fast with all the rain and sunshine I can't keep up

Websailor

Hey, for those sunny days here's a way for you to get your shopping done without having to worry about bus schedules:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cart-Bike/

I'm not sure how they're going to feel about me powering up and down the Central Market beer aisle riding that thing

But I'm willing to give it a go

And since I'm here, might as well get this out of the way...

105 again today That's the 40th triple digit day of the summer.

The forecast was 100. The forecast for tomorrow is 102. Does that mean it's going to be 107?

The weather weenie in Houston predicted only 99 for Austin tomorrow. Yea, I bet he'll be wrong.

I'd put serious money on it!

Only 104 today. I very nearly put me coat on!

Positively chilly today at 98/36.7

Even though we didn't make 100 today we still managed to break a heat record The lowest temperature overnight was 81/27.2, which is the warmest recorded low temperature for July 29th in Austin.

Oy.

This morning's forecast called for no chance of rain until the weekend. "Hot and dry" 'til Saturday.

So, I played the part of Rob McKenna, "Quasi Supernormal Incremental Precipitation Inducer," with my own personal rain cloud on the way back from lunch on the bike.

I walk out of the restaurant in a sun-shower. I put on my rain gear and the rain stops. I look towards work and see that the clouds are that-a-way so I leave the rain gear on wisely. I ride in rain and road spray the whole 5 miles back. I get just outside the gate and the rain dries up. I get in the gate and I get a few more sprinkles just for extra measure. I park the bike and I look at the sky in the direction I just came and it's completely clear.

If I had waited just a couple of minutes (could have finished the chapter I was reading) I would have missed the rain (but not the spray).

So, the dilemma of this time of year for bikers is this: The choice of being drenched in rain or damp with sweat. I've got a high quality set of foul weather gear that breaths and vents, but I still feel like I just hopped out of a sauna.

Scorchio yesterday, scorchio the day before that, and before that.

It'll be scorchio today, and tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and the day after that.

Of 31 days in July, 26 were scorchio.

Friday - scorchio plus four
Thursday - scorchio plus five
Wdnesday - schorchio plus four

So far today, scorchio plus one

I believe we have surpassed last year's tally of scorchio days, which was number three in the historical list of scorchio years in Austin.

Nope, I was wrong there, but not by much. If we reach 100 today it'll be the 50th scorchio day this year (the last three days have been - in reverse order - 103, 104, 105), which equals the number for last year, so it's a dead cert that this year will move to number three on the list (69 scorchio days in 1925 and 66 in 1923), and by quite a margin considering that every single one of the next eight days has a forecast maximum of more than scorchio. We're only in the second week of August, and scorchio can easily last well into September in these parts, but if last year is anything to go by, that won't happen. Hopefully the summer will be spent by then.

Well, we just got a bit of rain...

But not enough to drown a gnat.

We're still below a quarter inch for the last three months.

It's rained within 5 miles of us but we keep just missing it.

There was a lot of rain around south central Texas this afternoon and, as usual, most of it missed Austin, although we got a few sprinkles... BUT!!!

It lowered the temperature from 101 to 81 in no time flat

I just went to the mailbox at... 8.45pm.

It feels more like October than August Maybe another month or so and it'll be less like an oven out there.

This is getting very old now and we're all ready for it to stop - 56 scorchio days so far this summer. But if the forecast is accurate there are five more to come in the next eight days (including today) and the other three will only be a degree or two off, so they might as well be scorchio.

Again I look at the icons for the local 5 day forecast and see most of them showing thunderclouds. I've been looking at similar icons for several weeks now. And yet we've gotten only about .3 inches of rain since the end of May. This weekend as I was riding the bike I saw wet roads within 5 miles of the house but not a drop in the rain gauge.