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Monday, June 13, 2022

Triple digit heat



Looks like a hot one over most of the country. Sometimes times it’s nice to live in mountains of New Hampshire. Back in the days before air conditioning people would come here to escape city heat. That is, the wealthy would escape the heat. No doubt the blue collar working folks had to tough it out. 


There are still some of the old grand hotels left from back in the day. It was pretty good living for those who could afford it. 


I don’t even own an air conditioner. If I lived in town where the urban heat island is in effect I might own one. Out here by the lake, shaded by trees, fans work well enough. Sometimes there are a few days that are too hot and humid to be comfortable. My procedure for those days is to crack a cold beer and wander into the lake deep enough to cool off. Works for me. 


This is the flip side of living in a cooler climate. Winters can be brutal, but there are ways of keeping warm. It doesn’ take high technology to put some clothes on and to keep a wood fire burning. Air conditioning is another issue. Without AC it can be unlivable. If you have a good water supply in a hot arid climate evaporative cooling works. It’s worked for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. In modern times swamp coolers can do the job. That doesn’t work in a humid climate. There’s not much you can do except stay in the shade, try and catch a breeze and move as little as possible. 


There’s a reason the south didn’t really become a popular place to live until the invention of air conditioning. Something to think about when the grid is struggling to meet demand. 


-Sixbears

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