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

Scorchio number 30. And a non-scorchio day in the forecast for the first time in ages. I'll believe it when I see it.

Yesterday 103/77 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 104/79, no rain)
Today 103/77 (10% chance of rain)
Thursday 105/78 (10% chance of rain)
Friday 106/77 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 104/76 (10% chance of rain)
Sunday 103/77 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 101/78 (20% chance of rain)
Tuesday 98/76 (20% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +6°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 98/75
Record high temperature for today: 106 (1923)
Record low temperature for today: 65 (1931, 1898)

Scorchio number 31. Since the forecasters have been under-predicting the temperatures by 2 - 3 degrees most days I'm expecting at least 110° tomorrow

Yesterday 103/77 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 106/79, no rain)
Today 105/78 (10% chance of rain)
Friday 108/77 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 104/77 (10% chance of rain)
Sunday 103/77 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 101/77 (20% chance of rain)
Tuesday 97/75 (30% chance of rain)
Wednesday 98/75 (20% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +7°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 98/75
Record high temperature for today: 107 (1925)
Record low temperature for today: 61 (1967)

Right, Tha's Summer done over here...
7 days in a row over 30C then yesterday at just under, but humid as hell with thunderstorms around.
26, 30, 36, 32, 34, 35, 35, 35, 27.

Today back to 23C cloudy, and pleasant

Scorchio number 32.

Yesterday 105/78 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 104/79, no rain)
Today 108/77 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 107/78 (10% chance of rain)
Sunday 104/78 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 100/77 (30% chance of rain)
Tuesday 97/74 (30% chance of rain)
Wednesday 98/73 (20% chance of rain)
Thursday 99/73 (10% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +6°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 98/75
Record high temperature for today: 107 (2013)
Record low temperature for today: 65 (1967)

Scorchio number 33, and one which will see this year added to the list below because we tied the record for the day. All three other NWS recording stations broke it http://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1294406561817939977

Yesterday 108/77 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 107/78, no rain)
Today 107/78 (10% chance of rain)
Sunday 105/78 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 98/77 (40% chance of rain)
Tuesday 99/76 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 100/73 (10% chance of rain)
Thursday 100/75 (10% chance of rain)
Friday 100/74 (10% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +7°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 98/75
Record high temperature for today: 105 (2011, 1923)
Record low temperature for today: 66 (1973, 1901)

Something I expect to hear more of from meteorologists is "record high low temperatures".

Ya know, because of [conspiratorial whisper] "global warming".

*It's like how the lower number on your blood pressure reading is actually more important.*

OK, so as I just learned, they don't say that anymore (if they ever did). But for the climate, it kinda makes sense as it is a good indicator that our actual climate is heating up, that the greenhouse gasses are actually acting like a greenhouse!

Scorchio number 34, and this time all four NWS recording stations broke their record for the day http://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1294774326990962689

Ya know, because of [conspiratorial whisper] "global warming".

Yesterday 107/78 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 107/79, no rain)
Today 105/78 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 99/78 (40% chance of rain)
Tuesday 99/75 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 102/74 (10% chance of rain)
Thursday 101/74 (10% chance of rain)
Friday 99/75 (10% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +7°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 98/75
Record high temperature for today: 107 (1923)
Record low temperature for today: 64 (2004)

We were getting the Tropical Nights warning from the UK weatherforcasts, they define it as being any night where the minimum is at / over 20C / 68F.
"Overnight temperatures will also reduce with few if any locations recording temperatures of 20.0 C or more – so-called Tropical Nights. So far, this month we have seen five tropical nights 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th there was also a Tropical Night on June 25th, making six so far this year. Between 1961 and 1990 there were no less than 44 Tropical Nights, between 2008 and 2017 there were 12, five in 2018 and four in 2019."
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2020/thunderstorm-warnings-120820

Scorchio number 35. No records broken.

The average daily maximum has gone down by 1°. It begins. Be Christmas soon

Yesterday 105/78 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 106/79, no rain)
Today 99/78 (40% chance of rain)
Tuesday 99/75 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 101/75 (10% chance of rain)
Thursday 100/74 (10% chance of rain)
Friday 99/74 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 99/74 (10% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +7°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 97/75
Record high temperature for today: 107 (1923)
Record low temperature for today: 62 (1992)

54.4C/130°F!

Death Valley, CA 16 August, 2020. The hottest, reliably recorded, temperature on Earth.

Even with A/C that could mean temps of at least 100°F indoors!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53788018

I saw that One of my bookmarked weather reporting sites is Furnace Creek. The forecast for yesterday was much cooler, at 129° http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Death+Valley&state=CA&site=VEF&textField1=36.4556&textField2=-116.867&e=1

Scorchio number 36. Although Camp Mabry reported no rain yesterday we got a heavy, brief and very, very localised rainstorm around lunchtime. It must have passed over Austin Bergstrom because they registered a trace.

Although there's still no shortage of scorchios in the forecast, the overnight temperatures are starting to come down

Yesterday 99/78 (40% chance of rain) (actual: 101/76, no rain)
Today 99/75 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 101/73
Thursday 100/72
Friday 101/73 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 101/73 (10% chance of rain)
Sunday 100/74 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 100/74 (10% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +3°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 97/75
Record high temperature for today: 109 (1923)
Record low temperature for today: 65 (1901)

By the way, and as I'm sure I've mentioned both here and in another place, 100° indoors is what we have to deal with at work during the summerer

Well, this looks intriguing. Two likely storms, one heading into the Gulf, maybe reaching Texas at the weekend.
http://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/status/1295781450042822657

Scorchio number 37. Let's go back a few days, shall we?

Tuesday 97/74 (30% chance of rain)
Wednesday 98/73 (20% chance of rain)
Thursday 99/73 (10% chance of rain)



The possibilities for some tropical weather are still high http://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/status/1296057955066945537

Yesterday 99/75 (20% chance of rain) (actual: 104/75, no rain)
Today 101/73
Thursday 103/72
Friday 103/73 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 102/74 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 101/74 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 100/74 (10% chance of rain)
Tuesday 100/76 (20% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +4°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 97/75
Record high temperature for today: 107 (2011)
Record low temperature for today: 68 (1913, 1900)

My father has made some major preparations for future hurricanes. After decades of home subsidence and the county paving over previous roadbeds without removing the previous roads, raising the streets around us, we addressed some of our flooding issues by installing French drains to so low spots in our yard. This won't do much for us in real flooding as we're still stuck with the raised roads damming us in, especially when the culverts are clogged with weeds and trash, but at least it improves the drainage around the property. He also filled in a gap between his house and the porch/patio that held water and likely rotted the wall bases and floor of the house.
He also purchased an 18,000 watt Generac home generator. This runs off our natural gas line and comes on automatically when the power goes out (and we have a switch to cut off our electric main so we don't energize the local power lines, putting any linemen at risk.

With all that investment, a superstitious person would expect we've effectively prevented any major storms hitting our area for some time.

In which case, you could sell it as a hurricane prevention/avoidance package and make a fortune I'm pretty sure you've explained French drains before, but remind me.

Scorchio number 38, 18th in a row. August 1st (99°) is the only day this month which hasn't been scorchio. However, the a/c thermostat was showing a temperature of 80­° when I got - the lowest it's been for a while.

The possibilities for some tropical weather are increasing http://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/status/1296412519540695041

Yesterday 101/73 (actual: 104/73)
Today 103/72
Friday 103/73 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 100/76 (10% chance of rain)
Sunday 100/74 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 100/74 (10% chance of rain)
Tuesday 98/75 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 98/76 (20% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +3°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 97/75
Record high temperature for today: 106 (2011, 1999)
Record low temperature for today: 64 (1940)

I meant to add, three hours ago, that "However, the a/c thermostat was showing a temperature of 80­° when I got up - the lowest it's been for a while, and this is the first morning for some time I haven't had to switch it on immediately."

In fact, I didn't switch it on until I came back from the shops, around 9am, and the walk there and back was actually quite pleasant, thanks to the drier air we've got.

Looks like we're definitely going to see how well the drains and new concrete works out.

A "French" drain is simply porous pipe laid shallow with gravel above it allowing water to enter anywhere along it's length. The grass will grow over it. You can have a traditional drain basin with grill at head of it like we do, or not. The tail ends of ours lead to bar ditches next to the streets.

There are variations, some are simply rock filled trenches. There are also many names for them. Here's a list from that wiki thingy.

"A French drain[1] or weeping tile (also trench drain, filter drain, blind drain,[1] rubble drain,[1] rock drain,[1] drain tile, perimeter drain, land drain, French ditch, sub-surface drain, sub-soil drain or agricultural drain) is a trench filled with gravel or rock or containing a perforated pipe that redirects surface water and groundwater away from an area."

Ah yes, I remember now.

Scorchio number 39, 19th in a row. The a/c thermostat was showing a temperature of 80­° again when I got up this morning, but it feels a bit more humid than yesterday.

We now have, officially, a chance of some weather next week. It looks like landfall might be a little too far east to affect Austin as much as it might have, although I think the track has moved slightly to the west since last night, when it looked as if it was heading for the Texas/Louisiana border. Houston will certainly get some though. http://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1296757030695264257

Yesterday 103/72 (actual: 101/71)
Today 103/73 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 100/75 (30% chance of rain)
Sunday 101/74 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 102/72 (10% chance of rain)
Tuesday 99/74 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 99/75 (20% chance of rain)
Thursday 100/76 (20% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: 0°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 97/75
Record high temperature for today: 107 (1925)
Record low temperature for today: 62 (1940)

Scorchio number 4, 20th in a row, and the a/c thermostat is back up to 83 overnight.

Tropical storm Marco is now making a beeline for the Texas coast, and with each new forecast the line progresses further west.

10pm yesterday http://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1297011755936133121
4am today http://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1297112100804780033

And as I write there's a substantial area of rain bearing down on Austin, which looks like it'll arrive just as I'm on my way to work.

Yesterday 103/73 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 104/77, no rain)
Today 100/75 (30% chance of rain)
Sunday 100/73 (10% chance of rain)
Monday 100/73 (10% chance of rain)
Tuesday 97/74 (30% chance of rain)
Wednesday 98/75 (30% chance of rain)
Thursday 97/77 (30% chance of rain)
Friday 101/77 (20% chance of rain)

Yesterday's departure from the historic daily average: +5°
Average max/min for this time of the year: 97/75
Record high temperature for today: 105 (2011, 1925, 1917)
Record low temperature for today: 60 (1901)