Record heat across the region!

St. Louis has had records tied/broken two days in a row. 90s as far as the eye can see in the forecast. Gotta say.....too hot to do much but water the garden. How do the Texans do it?

Anyone else breaking records in the Midwest?

Don't know if it's a record, but it's DEFINITELY HOT here in southeast Michigan! 88 degrees, 53% humidity, heat index is 90. I walked down the driveway to the mailbox and had sweat dripping off me before I could get back in the house. Don't think I'm gonna make it back out this afternoon to do anymore planting. We'll see... really want to get my corn seeds in.

Happy Gardening!
Denese

I'm right there with you BBG. Highs in the 90s for the past week and 95 or more for the next week. Came out of nowhere--I heard on the news last night that we are 6 weeks ahead of where we should be temperature wise. My poor peas had just produced their first pod and were covered with blossoms when this weather started, and now are looking brown and sad. Harvested beets, broccoli raab, and lots of greens today while I still can. Arugula is starting to bolt but spinach miraculously is holding on. I wish it would cool off for a couple days!

If you look back at the long-range forecast I put up.....lmao! The "hot" stuff was supposed to come at the 12-20th of June...if at all. My weather buddy blew this one in less than 14 days. That's why long-range meteorology is like the 5day forecast 20 years ago.....a wild guess at times.

We've already come off our high of 98. And, our air is pretty dry. 34% humidity at the moment. People make me laugh when they say the desert is a dry heat. True, but today, 34% is the same as the desert....so it's the same. And, 98* is darned hot I don't care what they say out there. Well, guess I'm wrong on that one today.......humidity in AZ is running 5% and heat index is cooler than actual air temps. LOL...Phoenix is 100 and heat index is 94! "Feels" cooler than it is here, technically.

Whaa... we had to turn the heat on tonight. It's forecasted to be 42 degrees tonight.

We suffered in sweltering oppressive humidity just last week tho, around 90.

The weather pattern here appears to be going thru turbulent adolescence, and I'll be glad when we even out. That doesn't mean highs in the 60s, like is forecasted tomorrow.

Hoping my peas are happy in the cool weather, and that the green beans and the corn have patience.

Don't think it was a record but was hot!

A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS LATE TONIGHT WITH
QUARTER SIZED HAIL AND 60 MPH WINDS POSSIBLE.


Grrrr..heat brings more storms!

Heat for the next week In South Central Iowa

LOL...I'd give you my forecast, but you'd think you were running a fever with all these temps in the 90s.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:LOL...I'd give you my forecast, but you'd think you were running a fever with all these temps in the 90s.

No Thank you!..hot enough here!

Here's the issue, and mark my words....

The High Pressure System hovering over the southeast is called a "Bermuda High." The summer pattern of the bermuda high is quite early this year despite our late spring and cool, rainy weather up till this week.

High pressure systems are the blockers in the atmosphere. They deflect low pressure systems around them. An old forecasting adage says, "forecast for the high, then predict where the lows will run."

However, when summer in the southeast and midwest sets in around July, it revolves around this bermuda high most times. The high just sits and sits and sits running heat and humidity clockwise around the back side of the high and up the Mississippi River valley.

What moves it? Usually, a hurricane. The hurricane that moves it won't make landfall unless the Bermuda High is set well inland (which right now it's not). The high will serve as a blocker to protect the eastern seaboard and keep any tropical system out in the Gulf Stream. However, the tropical system will leave a "void" in the atmosphere where it bounces off the high. That will give dead space for the high to move into giving the illusion it's being sucked out to see. It's really only following the path of least resistence.

So, what will relieve the heat wave in the midwest? A hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas. Most low pressure systems running in from our west will just bounce up and around the high and go through Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana at the southernmost track. But, more likely they will run up and through the Upper Great Lakes regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan. Those areas will continue to see storms while Nebraska and Missouri and southern Illinois, Indiana, Cincy, etc, will swelter in humidity.

The only thing that can change this pattern is something that will move the Bermuda High by other means.

Mark my words. Summer is here to stay for awhile. Let's just hope something moves that high out to sea quickly, as it often wavers back and forth, too. But, as long as it has set up camp over HotLanta, we are in for the steam bath of a midwestern summer. Might be time to break out the rain dances early this year. And, that's something you will only hear me say this early.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:...Mark my words. Summer is here to stay for awhile....

Let's see...it's June in the mid-west when you're making that comment...I see a job as a weather man in your future!

BBG - What about those of us in the northeast? Are we stuck with cold weather now?

All I can say is, I hate this heat and humidity. Also, I'm glad I did SFG this year, since the only thing I've done lately is water, cover with shade cloth and admire the plant growth.

I just have to butt in a moment to say that ya'll have totally made my day! I've been feeling so discouraged about the decline of my garden and the fact that I haven't been spending enough time out there. Was beginning to think that the "phase" had passed and I didn't like gardening anymore.

Then I saw the forecasts ya'll were concerned about and it put it all into perspective!
Sometimes I forget that I am "extreme gardening."

Ellie, yes, you are extreme. When your tomato season ends because it's too hot, that's extreme! I used to want to live in Dallas, but I no longer want to because the climate is too hot for me. I watched a year of some 60+ days of 100+ heat and I changed my mind about moving down there. I love the winters, but wouldn't do much all summer long. My grandparents grew up in San Antonio w/o a/c in the Depression Era. How they survived, I'll never know. And, then, there's your neck of the woods. OMG! I can't fathom how soon on the calendar the heat sets in and the fact that it doesn't go away until Thanksgiving. Wow. Don't be discouraged, imo, you are tough as nails.

NH, I can't really do much about other areas. I really only study the environment I live in. I can find you some neat links, though. The stuff I pull my area from. There are some really neat websites out there that your tv guys use, but don't tell you....because you'd realize they don't know what they are doing.....lol.....like you didn't already know that!

Boff, I used to study meteorology in school. I've loved it since my first tornado in Kansas when I was about 8 years old. We had a close call, the sirens went blaring, and my dad went out in the front yard to have a look. I followed, like a son does, and was immediately hooked as we watched it pass by just south of town. I have appreciated nature in a weird way ever since.

BackyardBirdGardner,

I admire your knowledge of meteorology!

Do you think there may be a connection between the weird weather and the ice shelf that broke off from Greenland(?) nearly three years ago?

My gosh, I'm sorry I didn't see this until now. I was checking in to say our heat is back, and with a vengence when I saw this question.

I believe the ice shelves are breaking up in response to the warming temps, yes. But, I don't know that the ice in the waters is affecting much or that the chunk (as big as it is/was) has enough freshwater in it to dilute anything worth mentioning when it comes to global weather patterns.

What I do know is that things are very closely tied to the activity of the sun. When the sun "burps" and puts out a lot of magnetism or heat, things get really goofy around the earth.....likely the solar system. Science is just starting to figure this out. Why? I don't know. It seems like such common sense.

It is being proven that the sun goes in cycles. A little study in climatology will reflect a parallel pattern.

What I won't see is the next ice age. In my unstudied opinion, I believe it comes on suddenly (decades as opposed to centuries) when global temps and melting polar ice reach a tipping point that is unknown at this time. What I've read, and believe, will happen is that the salinity of the oceans will be diluted from the north. Freshwater sinks as it is less buoyant. This sinking, cooler water will be more dense than the gulf stream current (one of, if not the primary, conveyors of heat from the equator that distributes heat and energy) and will serve to shut down the flow. When the earth can no longer distribute it's heat as evenly, the poles will get really cold and the equator will get really hot. The result is more violent clashes between air masses when they do mix. More tornadoes. More hurricanes. And, more severe at that. Eventually, there won't be any mixing at all and the cold air will sink southward from the north. Yes, another ice age will ensue. What stops this? The freezing of ocean waters again and the locking up of fresh water until the salinity of the oceans returns more to present day levels.....and allowing the ocean currents to distribute heat again instead of relying exclusively on clashing air masses. Bear in mind, this cycle has happened already multiple times and takes thousands of years to normalize, but only decades to start.

Do I think humans have an effect? Yes. But, not as big as politicians would have you believe.....or companies looking to profit on your fears. Do I think we should behave more responsibly when it comes to our global footprints? Yes, but within reason. Just like our gardens, we humans tend to overreact to everything. The main thing I believe behind all this typing is that Mother Nature can shut you down whenever the mood strikes her. And, as much as we humans think we are the shiznit, we aren't. There isn't a thing we can do about it.......never will be in my lifetime. I believe we can accelerate cycles. By how much? I have no idea. If an ice age is coming, we can't reverse it by suddenly using CFLs again. And, we can't stop global warming if it's being caused by the sun's "burp" of activity. All we can do is stay as uninvolved with the process as we can.