The heat is on!

[DesertAlbin736]

Gosh, I feel for those poor folks along the Brazos River in central Texas. Just can't imagine dealing with massive deadly flooding like that. And other places in the plains states getting hit with destructive tornadoes. Folks here in Phoenix might breath a sigh of relief, thinking well, we're in the desert. We're lucky if we get over 7 inches of rain in a year. But we do sometimes get minor flooding in places when 2 or 3 of those annual inches of rain come all at once during our so-called monsoon season. Then other times it won't rain a drop for months on end.

We have winter weather to die for. But ah, the summer heat! That's when we pay for those those mild winters with interest. We've gotten off easy these past few months. I think we only had 2 or 3 nights last December when the nights dipped below 32 degrees and we had to throw old sheets over our sensitive tropical plants. Rest the time it was 60s & 70s through February & March, then 80s in April, pushing 90s in May.

But this week! Oh boy! I went over check on our boat today at the storage yard where we park it. My truck thermometer read 104 at about 3 PM. We have a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer on the boat that reads temperatures in the main cabin and the enclosed wheel house. We knew heat was coming this week & no rain is sight, so I rolled up the side & rear flaps on the canvas enclosure, allowing air to circulate through the mesh sun screens, and opened the forward deck hatch & velcro'd the bug screen over the opening to keep birds & critters out, plus left the fore and aft cabin doors open. So even with the cabin ventilated as much as possible and the outside temp of 104, the inside of the cabin read 116.

Well guess what? Our weather forecast for Saturday calls for a record high of 118! I've been in Arizona almost 40 years, and there's only been a handful of times went it went over 118. Worst was in 1991 when it hit 120. 120 has to be felt to be believed. Lately the national news has been focused on the flood stories. Let's see if they mention Phoenix hitting 118 this weekend. That means the inside of the boat will be at least 130! Which is why we're about to hitch up and head for the Pacific NW in less than 2 weeks. But we'll have to wait until just before we leave to load provisions, not even canned goods in this heat.

[catalina_mike]

The day before yesterday we set a 100 year plus record 107 in Visalia.. But it's a dry heat right? We need the water in the Central Valley what a dust bowl. Heading to San Clemente today and to Catalina on Sunday for a few days to get out of the heat.

[DesertAlbin736]

Don't blame you there! We're taking the inland route to Washington leaving on the 12th. Up though Flagstaff, Page, Salt Lake City, Twin Falls, ID, Yakima & Seattle WA. Won't have to be crossing much in the way of hot deserts except the first 100 miles or so climbing up out of the desert & into high country.

Maybe next year we'll do Catalina from Dana Point. Or even later this year in the fall if the Santa Ana winds aren't too bad?


Sunset in a very crowded Avalon Harbor in 2012, last time we went to Catalina Island from San Diego on our previous Catalina 25 sailboat. This was the week after July 4th, so naturally it was busy.

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[DesertAlbin736]

109 on our back patio today at 4PM, 3% humidity!

Here's a picture of the thermometer with humidity gauge on our back patio, in the shade, this afternoon at 4PM. Click on the picture to enlarge. Not sure how accurate the humidity gauge is, but it was very dry heat. Our swimming pool water is 84, which cools you off nice, but stepping out of the water makes you feel chilly from the evaporation effect, even at this high temperature.

All of the West, especially the desert Southwest, is in the grips of an almost unprecedented early season heat wave. Official temps in Phoenix hit 113, new record for the date and earliest over 110 for the season since 1970. They've dialed the weekend forecast a degree down to 117, and highs are supposed to be at or above 104 all next week. Officially so far today the minimum humidity was 5%, maximum 18%, and dew point 30 degrees. We almost never see dew on the grass in the morning around here. We're usually about a degree or two cooler where we are on the edge of town than the more densely populated areas closer in toward downtown, but it could still hit 115 here tomorrow.

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Oh, and that big oil tanker train derailment & fire along the Columbia River near Mosier, Oregon? That happened just 3 miles or so from where we camped for a night along I-84 on the way to Bellingham, WA two years ago.

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In Memaloose State Park rest area and campground.

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