It got to 98 in my Olympic Peninsula town yesterday. B was out near Forks and his car moving measured the temperature at 108. I stayed inside until about 4 pm, getting ready for my next visitor. I was moving books after moving file cabinets and moving a bookshelf. I stayed reasonably cool in the house, keeping the main floor at 79. I have a heat pump, put in about 5 years ago.
At about 4 pm I put on a swimsuit, headed outside, and took a hose sprinkler shower. Then I sat with my daughter in the shade of our magnolia and ate chips and salsa and sour cream. I had a beer. Another friend came by and spent time laughing at my Beatnik bathtub fountain, but then admitted that the water sound itself is cooking and it's rather wonderful to put your feet in the water. I got my cotton sarong wet and made dinner. We had a big salad with toast points and smoked salmon. He headed out. I checked upstairs, but it was still mid-80s there, so I slept outside again. The stars were lovely.
It is cooler today though still not a cloud in the sky. Usually June is still low clouds in the morning which sometimes burn off or raining and in the 50s. Some years it seems like there is very little sun between January and the fourth of July. One year we had a lot of sun in April but then it rained a lot in July. This is definitely a weird summer so far. I say to my daughter, "Gosh, if we are having sun now, will we have rain in July?"
"No, mom. Smoke." is her reply.
I think she is right. Fires. We have had smoke three out of the last four years, enough to make people uncomfortable or even miserable. Asthma, allergies, eye trouble, worse COPD and general irritability. I feel like I want to run around screaming "Fire!" and have to keep reassuring the lizard brain: yes, there's a fire but it is not anywhere near here. Lizard brain calms a little but is nervous. Five minutes later it is shouting "Fire, fire!" just as loudly as before. One year the smoke is mostly from Canada and then two years from eastern Washington. According to the Peninsula Daily News, we had a fire that was put out yesterday, on that blazing hot day.
Today at 5 pm it is 70. It is still sunnier than I expect in June.
The heat dome is supposed to be a 1:1000 heat weather event for our area. I hope so, because if it recurs, we are going to have an issue with snow pack. And no snow pack, then water becomes difficult. Also, our Hoh Rain Forest would not like it.
Hopefully it is 1:1000.
photos: the pacific northwest heatwave is melting power cables and buckling roads.