114 Degrees and Sunny Out Today

I guess the summer heat here in AZ took the month off in June but it seems to be making up ground now In July; for a few days anyway.

And wouldn't you know it, earlier this afternoon the part of the city where I live was hit with a power outage. I don't know what caused it but it lasted a good two and a half to three hours. It was only slightly cooler inside but with a stagnant heat. Outside it was breezy but breezy like a hair dryer blowing hot air.

These outages have happened before and our city utility company can usually get them taken care of in twenty minutes to an hour or so. No such luck this time. It did serve as a reminder to me how lucky we are to have electricity to use to cool us off during these dog-days. How miserable it would have been if they hadn't been able to get the power back up by tonight. I shudder to think of trying to sleep in this kind of heat.

Being a life long Arizona resident I can't help but chuckle when I hear folks from out of state speak of the misery of day time ninety-degree temperatures where they come from. That's how hot it was in my neck of the woods at midnight last night and the past few nights; possibly a little hotter. It's true that our humidity isn't as high as many states but it still kind of makes me crack a smirky smile when I hear those things.

I think I might have filled my bathtub with water and slept in it over night if they hadn't been able to get the power back on. I have two emergency generators that I could have brought into action if they hadn't been able to fix it. One is a small camping generator and the other is a bigger brand-new generator that I bought back in 1999. Do you remember the computer scare of 1999??? They were telling us that computers might very well all go haywire due to the numerical code that made digital computer clocks switch from 1999 to 2000. Yea, anyway; that's how long I've had this brand-new generator sitting in my storage room.

If I had to guess the cause there's about fifty-percent chance of being right if I guessed that a drunk illegal alien with no auto insurance crashed into a major power line. Don't laugh. This has been the cause of power outages in my neck of the woods on more than one occasion.

Well, they got the power back up so all is right with the world again. That's it for my rant. I just had to get the residual heat out of me so I could brace for the onslaught of Global Warming hysteria that's sure to follow this power outage. Be safe everyone.

HollowPoint

What part of Az if I may ask?

Just moved here a month ago. Would you suggest that I purchase a back up 20-30kw generator? Right now the motor home is parked in the back yard and if faced with a power outage I could always crank up the generator and move the dogs, wife , and myself into it. being new here I find myself wondering if outages are common. Back in Iowa they were somewhat common in the summer when power demands were high.

I know this is going to sound weird but I find the lack of humidity somewhat refreshing. I was used to 90% or more humidity in the summer in IA.

I live in Mesa, AZ.

These Power outage aren't really that common but they do happen on occasion. I didn't mean to scare you. The generators I mentioned were both bought at a local Harbor Freight store. The smaller of the two was used alot cause I did alot of camping back then. The larger one has 4000 Watts written on the side of the box but it's never seen the light of day.

This is because power outages in my area really aren't that common and when they did happen the city utility people were able to get things back online fairly quickly. The power outages that I have experienced have happened at various other times of the year. My reason for posting this thread is because this time around the outage happen to take place on a 114 degree day.

HollowPoint

Sounds like a transformer over loaded it would take that amount of time to transport & swap one out. I'd be getting a whole house generator if we had to live with that heat. We keep the house at 65F with the A/C. We don't like the heat but I would love to move to a less humid, gun friendly state come retirement time.

Folks that have moved here from somewhere else (that's probably the majority of our population) say that you get used to the heat. I've lived here all my life so I don't know if that's completely true or not. "Getting Used To It" gives the impression that going from one climate to another is like going from drinking beer to drinking light beer.

I don't particularly like the heat but there's nothing I can do about the weather so you just roll with it. If I could afford it I'd become a snow-bird and migrate north during the summer and then go back south during the winter.

HollowPoint

This evening, as of 2130 hrs. PDT, the temp was 101F/36% humidity......in a word, "miserable". But, come mid-September, the temps, especially evening should be more pleasant. Just saw on the Weather channel that Mammoth Lakes, CA, just closed their ski season.

Glad your power was not off longer. Outages can be caused by many things. A bird or animal can get on a piece of equipment, sometimes damaging it. A drunk driver or a cell phone user can hit a pole. Trees and limbs can fall across power lines tearing lines down or breaking poles. Repairing some of these problems can take time. Most systems are getting older and stuff does were out. Callouts for stuff like this made my retirement better!

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Originally Posted by wildwilly

This evening, as of 2130 hrs. PDT, the temp was 101F/36% humidity......in a word, "miserable". But, come mid-September, the temps, especially evening should be more pleasant. Just saw on the Weather channel that Mammoth Lakes, CA, just closed their ski season.

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That temp and humidity would be considered A/C here. LOL

762

Iowa was bad at 99% humidity and 90-100 degrees temp. I've been in AZ now for a month and I will gladly take 100+ degrees with 12% humidity. Its just a different heat here. Its amazing to be able to walk outside and not be wringing wet in 5 minutes from the humidity. Being able to walk across the dry garage floor instead of having a wet floor to skate across.

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Originally Posted by HollowPoint

I live in Mesa, AZ.

These Power outage aren't really that common but they do happen on occasion. I didn't mean to scare you. The generators I mentioned were both bought at a local Harbor Freight store. The smaller of the two was used alot cause I did alot of camping back then. The larger one has 4000 Watts written on the side of the box but it's never seen the light of day.

This is because power outages in my area really aren't that common and when they did happen the city utility people were able to get things back online fairly quickly. The power outages that I have experienced have happened at various other times of the year. My reason for posting this thread is because this time around the outage happen to take place on a 114 degree day.

HollowPoint

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If it can happen it will always happen when its either super hot or super cold. In AZ I guess you can rule out the cold.

I've got a friend that works at Quantico and there are routinely people there from all over the world. It's comical the number of people that come from places where it is normally well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 C) and are shocked by the heat and humidity of eastern Virginia.
90 degrees F + is normal but the humidity is extreme. People from hot desert climates are not prepared for the conditions.

100 degrees in Arizona is NOT the same as 100 degrees in Virginia.

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Originally Posted by Petrol & Powder

I've got a friend that works at Quantico and there are routinely people there from all over the world. It's comical the number of people that come from places where it is normally well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 C) and are shocked by the heat and humidity of eastern Virginia.
90 degrees F + is normal but the humidity is extreme. People from hot desert climates are not prepared for the conditions.

100 degrees in Arizona is NOT the same as 100 degrees in Virginia.

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Amen. I have a swamp behind me and at times when you walk out the humidity soaks you before you can start to sweat. I had a brother in law who moved to Arizona and when he would come back and visit he couldn't take it and claimed he would take Arizona's heat any day. I bought a small generator and it will run small ac so we can hide in the den with dogs . I have to agree i have known people from all over that complain that its just miserable here. Now don't get me wrong 114 is hot i don't care where you are but the humidity can really add to the misery.

110+ with 12 - 30% humidity here this last week......not bad at all......does, in fact, for comfort beat 85 - 90+ degree with 70 - 90+ humidity.......

It's 96 at 7:20 am here now.........humidity is about 20% as we've getting some weather off the Sea of Cortez the last week......

Going shirtless and shoeless in pair of shorts help a bit. Also, being bald headed helps the heat dissipate from the top of your head a little more efficiently; unless you're in direct sunlight.

No matter how we process it in our individual minds, hot is still hot and miserable is still miserable. Thank God it only last for about three months. Then my utility bills get back to a more stress free level.

HollowPoint

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Originally Posted by HollowPoint

Going shirtless and shoeless in pair of shorts help a bit. Also, being bald headed helps the heat dissipate from the top of your head a little more efficiently; unless you're in direct sunlight.

No matter how we process it in our individual minds, hot is still hot and miserable is still miserable. Thank God it only last for about three months. Then my utility bills get back to a more stress free level.

HollowPoint

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The shirt and shoes and shorts part i can agree with the bald head on the other hand is different all mine does is get burnt.

What did they do before there was electricity? ...One thing, It wasn't as hot...I mean in the city. We have a situation now where the concrete and asphalt soaks up more heat and cities are anywhere from a few degrees hotter to +20° hotter.
People used to find shady areas in hollow's or down by the creek to be cooler. Now we have A/C as we live on the computer. Don't get me wrong I ain't saying it was better without electricity. Personally I like both A/C AND sitting on the internet.

I've lived here since '68, never had AC until 2 yrs ago, I could never go back to swamp cooling now even though that's all I knew for all that time, It was bad on high humidity days where the cooler didn't work so everyone just had fans blowing all the time, you did kind of get used to it if that was all you knew, all you could do was pray that it would rain and bring relief, I still have to work outdoors sometime and the heat is terrible but you do what can to keep the sun off you, can't wait for October/November and the cooler weather, or somewhat cooler, I always say we have two seasons, Hot and Dammed Hot.

If I remember correctly the first time we lived in a place with air conditioning I was a junior in high school. That was pretty close to 1968 too cause I graduated in 74. Now that I think about it the first time I ever talked on a telephone was when I was in the sixth grade. It wasn't cause they hadn't been invented but because to us at the time, only rich people had telephones. It took that long for my mom to be able to afford to have a phone and even then it was a major strain on the single mom family budget. Now days it seems that kids are born practically with a cell phone in their hands.

As a kid you don't really take those kinds of hardships into consideration. Only in hindsight do we recall such things. Heck, as kids we used to run around barefoot outside in the summer time. Now as an old man tender-foot I hate even walking on uneven ground.

HollowPoint

The longest year of my life was spent at Fort Gordon GA. It wasn't the so much the heat (100 degrees) it was the humidity (seemed like 100% almost all the time). 100 degrees is still 100 degrees and hot by any standards, but mix in the humidity and it is stupid uncomfortable.
NH has MAYBE two or three 100 degree days in the summer. The rest of the time it is mostly in the 80's with some humidity....not bad at all.
The winters on the other hand........

Having lived in the Phoenix area and in NC/SC I can say that 100 Degrees is not created equally. 100 in the desert is far easier to take than 100 in NC with 90% humidity.

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Originally Posted by FISH4BUGS

The longest year of my life was spent at Fort Gordon GA. It wasn't the so much the heat (100 degrees) it was the humidity (seemed like 100% almost all the time). 100 degrees is still 100 degrees and hot by any standards, but mix in the humidity and it is stupid uncomfortable.
NH has MAYBE two or three 100 degree days in the summer. The rest of the time it is mostly in the 80's with some humidity....not bad at all.
The winters on the other hand........

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Did AIT at Ft. Gordon. Basic at lovely Ft. Jackson. Both in the summer. Quite the shock for a Northern boy in the heat department

At least you can afford the electricity to stay cool out there. Here in San Diego, SDG&E (San Diego Gouge and Extortion) rips us off at every opportunity. People inland that actually need AC are paying over $500 a month to stay cool - I'm glad I am close enough to the beach that I don't need AC.

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Originally Posted by Traffer

What did they do before there was electricity? ...One thing, It wasn't as hot...I mean in the city. We have a situation now where the concrete and asphalt soaks up more heat and cities are anywhere from a few degrees hotter to +20° hotter.
People used to find shady areas in hollow's or down by the creek to be cooler. Now we have A/C as we live on the computer. Don't get me wrong I ain't saying it was better without electricity. Personally I like both A/C AND sitting on the internet.

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We suffered. I never had an ac growing up we was poor. In fact i never had one until after i got married.

I’ll stick to my cold butt Wyoming,I saw 100 degrees a couple of years ago it lasted about 20 minutes,frightful as it was we survived.