We're having a hoke wave...

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edatoakrun

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2010
Messages
5,222
Location
Shasta County, North California
I read a number of west coast newspapers, and every one has a stories today on the present Heat and smoke waves.

Not news here in North California, where some sources have reported this as the hottest Summer ever recorded, and I've woken up to the smell of smoke most every morning since early July.

Trapped indoors for weeks, with a severe Summer case of cabin fever, it now sounds like I timed my trip to the Bay area earlier this week just right.

No matter where you go in California this Labor Day Weekend, you'll have to contend with hot weather. Temperatures will be near record levels from 105 to 111 degrees.

Michelle Mead is with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. She says there's a strong ridge of high pressure that has parked itself over the state.

"Basically it means the air is very stagnant or we don't get a lot of flow moving through," says Mead. "So it cuts off the delta breeze which we all know is Mother Nature's air conditioner, so that is going to be cut off for a time."

A crazy-quilt of excessive-heat warnings, watches and advisories, along with Red Flag warnings of high fire danger and air quality alerts because of smoke from wildfires, blanket the region from Washington state to Southern California and as far east as Montana.

The Sacramento region is under an excessive heat warning through Monday night. Mead says that means there's a high risk of heat-related illnesses for everybody, not just sensitive groups.

"Even very healthy folks. You know, we kind of take for granted that 'I'm in good shape, I can go out and run at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.' This is one of those scenarios where you're going to want to rethink that. When it gets this hot, even folks in really good condition can be impacted by heat exhaustion."...
http://www.capradio.org/articles/2017/08/31/california-will-swelter-in-triple-digit-temperatures-through-labor-day/

Casio is also predicting an all-time high demand record will be set this PM:

http://www.caiso.com/Pages/TodaysOutlook.aspx#SupplyandDemand
 
edatoakrun said:
Trapped indoors for weeks, with a severe Summer case of cabin fever, it now sounds like I timed my trip to the Bay area earlier this week just right

Yeah, it wasn't really supposed to start until today but I went hiking yesterday afternoon and it was already up to 100F, with about a mile visibility in particulate haze. I fear today may be even worse than they expected.
 
Nubo said:
edatoakrun said:
Trapped indoors for weeks, with a severe Summer case of cabin fever, it now sounds like I timed my trip to the Bay area earlier this week just right
Yeah, it wasn't really supposed to start until today but I went hiking yesterday afternoon and it was already up to 100F, with about a mile visibility in particulate haze. I fear today may be even worse than they expected.
I spent Monday evening at Crissy field in SF.

The alt-right and opposing weekend rallies had been cancelled, fortunately.

I strolled out to Fort Point and back, then had a beer as the sun set behind high fog over the Bridge, while my LEAF sucked up a few kWh on one of the L2s.

BTW, I just got another call from PG&E.

Tomorrow will be ''smart day" on my E6S rate plan, meaning a $0.60 per kWh surcharge from 2 pm to 7 pm.

That will be the third S day in a row, and the first time ever on a (usually low-demand) weekend day in the ~3 years I've had that rate plan.
 
Too hot:

San Francisco hits 106 degrees — shatters all-time record

..nine Bay Area cities, as well as Moffett Field, Santa Cruz and Salinas, broke heat records for Sept. 1, most set more than 60 years ago.
Among them were Santa Rosa, which at 110 degrees, broke its record of 105 set in 1950. San Jose hit 108 degrees, well above its previous record for the day of 101, also set in 1950. And Richmond, at 102, crushed its record of 93 degrees set in 1955...

Another unlovely side-effect of the record heat is that it has combined with smoke from wildfires burning in Northern California and Oregon to create plenty of soot and smog in Bay Area air...
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Hey-San-Francisco-get-ready-for-the-heat-12166706.php

Nearly too close:

UPDATE: Fire burns house, 25 acres in Oak Run

An estimated 25-acre fire destroyed a home and a number of adjacent buildings, including a barn, Friday in Oak Run.

The Hopper Fire, reported shortly after 11 a.m., also ignited several spot fires in the 14000 block of Oak Run Road.

At 12:30 p.m., authorities said the fire's spread had been stopped and there was no need for evacuations, though the fire had razed several structures.

Oak Run Road between Bullskin Ridge Road and Oak Run to Fern Road were closed as firefighters fought the blaze...
http://www.redding.com/story/news/2017/09/01/fire-burning-10-acres-multiple-structures-oak-run/626042001/

Air tankers overhead have been so common this summer (flights out of Redding airport to all points North and East take a path over my house) and the smell of smoke was already so pervasive, I didn't realize a fire was within a half mile of me until a friend called to ask if I was OK.

After filling up the bathtub, I went outside to watch the show.

What most impressed me was the size and speed of the attack. Must have been close to a dozen hand crews, along with a few hours worth of fixed wing and helicopter drops. I expect the response must have cost a few million dollars, in all.

Just maybe we get this first-class-protection due to those pylons you can see in a photo at the link above.

All three major transmission lines (WAPA, TANK, and PG&E) are within a few hundred yards of each other as they cross Bullskin ridge, and whenever a fire comes close to any of those lines, Calfire really seems to pull out all the stops.

Wonder what would have happened, if all the air conditioners of Central and Southern CA had gone silent on a day as hot as yesterday...

...California Oregon Intertie (COI), identified as Path 66 by Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), is a corridor of three roughly parallel 500 kV alternating current power lines connecting the electric grids of Oregon and California. Their combined power transmission capacity is 4800 MW...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_66
 
I guess that's semi official:

Heat, Smoke, and Fire Assault Western States: All-Time Record Heat in California

Bob Henson · September 3, 2017, 4:35 AM

The steamy, fiery summer of 2017 hit a new crescendo this weekend across the U.S. West, which is getting its hottest Labor Day weekend on record in many locations—and in some spots, the hottest weather ever observed. Overall, "this is the greatest statewide heat wave ever recorded in California,” proclaimed WU weather historian Christopher Burt on Saturday night. Burt based his conclusion not only on the heat’s intensity but on its widespread nature well beyond California’s usual scorching locations. Even an escape to the cool Pacific shore was pretty much futile, as easterly downslope winds funneled scorching air from the interior into coastal sections that are normally mild and sometimes chilly even in midsummer. Readings also soared above 110°F across California’s Central Valley, although such heat is not quite so unusual for late summer in that area.

California’s Bay Area has been the focal point of the weekend’s most extraordinary heat...
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/heat-smoke-and-fire-assault-western-states-all-time-record-heat-california

This might be headline news, if not for the current hurricanes and bickering between thermonuclear-armed despots.
 
edatoakrun said:
BTW, I just got another call from PG&E.

Tomorrow will be ''smart day" on my E6S rate plan, meaning a $0.60 per kWh surcharge from 2 pm to 7 pm.

That will be the third S day in a row, and the first time ever on a (usually low-demand) weekend day in the ~3 years I've had that rate plan.

$0.60/kWh surcharge?!?! Hoooolly cow! I pay $0.11/kWh AFTER my Renewable Energy Credit purchases. (Arkansas gets roughly 45% of electricity from coal, so I offset by buying RECs from https://www.arcadiapower.com/durandal8882. If I just used the mostly dirty power, it would be $0.095/kWh. I just bought some grid-tie inverters to get further along on my solar plans, but if I lived out where you do, I would have gone 100% solar a long time ago if I could. :eek:
 
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