Sissy stuff to keep warm with during the "VORTEX"?

[Betty]

Feels quite comfortable with the temperature outside already at 77F with the humidity at only 37%. I'm still walking around in a warm (pink) sweatshirt with an undershirt underneath, & heavy jeans since the cool morning, & didn't even notice it was getting that warm. It's probably much warmer than 77F inside. Breathing is a bit rough but much better this afternoon than this morning & last night. Last night it got so bad I had to take a caffeine & grapefruit juice treatment in the middle of the night to make it better. Then the treatment kept me awake until almost dawn. Got up at 9:30am & it was bad again, but it's almost always worse in the mornings when the air & ground outside is the most damp, & my heart hasn't got up to full speed yet. I should start up the AC because cooler drier air makes me breathe better, but I save more money if I can leave it off longer.

They're expecting it to get in the 80s F & very humid/swampy today, but so far, it's fine.

[Betty]

As the first day of winter is just a little over a week away for the southern hemisphere, you'd think our coldest visitor would be in the far south like New Zealand, or the bottom of Africa, & south America.

Our current coldest visitor is much further north in the mountainous region of  La Paz, Bolivia in South America... almost 12,000 feet above sea level. It's currently a clear 34F with a wind chill of 28F. But it will get up to 57F this afternoon, & 61F Tuesday afternoon. A little further south, it's 36F in Santiago, Chile. But by dawn it will be a sunny 31F & he/she will be our coldest visitor.

India's heatwave has passed. It's still pretty hot there, but they don't make out hottest visitors list today. Our current hottest visitors are several from Phoenix, Arizona at 106F at night (after 11:30pm)... and they say it gets very cold at night in the desert - I guess not tonight. It will get down to 83-85F in the pre-dawn hours, then jump up to 108F by the afternoon. But it's a dry heat at only 11% humidity. More like standing in front of a hair drier, than that swampy, sticky heat we get in damper climates near water. It might hit 109F Tuesday there.

In the morning in London it's 52F & partly cloudy. High of 65F expected.

Across the state from me it's a rainy 67F in the middle of the night in NY city. They're expecting an 81F rainy afternoon.

In Tokyo, it's late in the afternoon at 82F.

Sydney 64F & rain.

Melbourne, 59F & partly cloudy.

Anchorage, Alaska 67F, clear. Will be 77F this afternoon as the polar bears sweat to death.

Right now at my house tonight it's 68F, foggy with a chance of rain. But with 98% humidity I'm having breathing difficulties. High humidity is really bad for my breathing. The high today will be 70F with more rain. So I guess once again Alaska is having nicer weather than we are, as global warming continues to push warmer air towards the poles, & cooler polar air down my streets.

Metric conversion: 20F=-7C 30F=-1C 40F=4C 50F=10C 60F=17C 70F=21C 80F=27C 90F=32C 100F=38C 110F=43C 1mile=1.6km 1km=3280 feet

[ace]

As the first day of winter is just a little over a week away for the southern hemisphere, you'd think our coldest visitor would be in the far south like New Zealand, or the bottom of Africa, & south America.

Ah Betty, you're using the logic of the Solstace's and equinoxes for your determination of the seasons, which (coming from the UK originally) I tend to agree with.

However, since coming down under, in particular NSW, I have found they start the seasons at the beginning of the month. So June 1st is start of winter (not 21st), 1st Sep start of spring, 1st Dec summer etc.

It does have a certain logic to it as June 21st is the highest the sun reaches on the tropic of Cancer, so could be interpreted as mid-Summer (or Winter). Either way, it's going to get colder before it gets warmer, down here !! Dig out the pink frilly thermals!

[Betty]

I think the coldest night we had here last winter was -18F (-28C) with wind chills of -45F (-43C). Although the city was spared most of the really deep snow, the southern part of the city, & south of the city they had snow up to second story windows in some parts. 6-12 feet deep snow was typical south of the city.

I'm so used to it, I'd probably melt on a mild spring day in your town.

There's much discussion on the fall & fail of Buffalo since the 1960s. Yes, there was bad politics, bad decisions, & mobsters that contributed to the fall of the town. But Buffalo was big when the primary method of shipping was by boat & rail, & we were in the middle of all of that. Then is got to be the only thing being regularly shipped by boat on the great lakes & other nearby waterways anymore was for the auto & steel industry in the 1960s.

Japanese steel became cheaper & better, & the American auto industry didn't keep up with the times. So when they lost money, people moved out because there was not much to keep them here in winters almost as severe as Alaska, Quebec, & Siberia. So the fall of Buffalo had more to do with our miserable winter climate than anything else.

Unlike the rest of the state, we're right between 2 great lakes & usually right in the middle of those polar vortex streams, so have our own little isolated climate here. No industry would set up or move here if they didn't have to, & many preferred just getting out rather than freeze or constantly dig out of snow & ice all winter.

Sadly, the past couple year's it's been worse than ever. When I consistently, year-round see nicer weather in Alaska than here, the weather & climate has gotten seriously screwed up.

Climate change deniers freeze every winter so say there is no global warming, but don't notice that the poles are melting. It's suddenly got unusually warm in Alaska & Siberia. -18F temperatures, & -45F wind chills are supposed to be up there, not down here. When we were at -18F here it was 36F in Anchorage.

But you know something is up when paved streets in India that been around for decades start melting.

[Betty]

The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a severe winter with heavy snow, & extreme cold this winter in the N.E. USA. Do they mean worse than last year?

Today we had a second day in a row at almost 90F, with more of the same expected tomorrow. That don't sound hot to most southerners, but being right next door to America's Great Lakes, it's very humid, sticky, & humid. We've had a few rare dry, low-humidity days near 90F this summer. That was much more bearable & comfortable than 80F with very high steamy humidity.

Even moderate humidity makes breathing difficult with COPD. If I want to breathe good enough to just walk across the room without gasping for air, I have to run the AC even on cooler days to the humidity as low as possible. It also helps reduce ozone (positive ions), which is higher on hot humid days & very bad for your lungs. With constantly running air filters to keep the air clean too, its keeps my COPD bearable & survivable so far. Air conditioners & air filters passing air through their fan blades & filters create some negative ions, & discharge the harmful positive ions or neutralize them as well.

Although outside city air makes me breathe worse, I do try to go outside & walk around to get some exercise every day - I do exercise indoors as much as my breathing will allow too. On days my breathing the worst I try to at least go down to sit on the steps or porch outside, or walk around the yard a little. Even during rainy or winter days I try to get outside at least for a little while.

As I do most of my work at home by people dropping stuff of for me to fix or mod, & being stuck inside away from the city air with my climate controlled filtered air to breathe evey day, I'd go nuts like being in prison if I didn't try to go outside when I can.

Since yesterday just stepping out in my hall, I couldn't breathe the hot humid air, & had to go back inside. It'll probably be the same tomorrow.

The S.W. USA is having another heat wave with some areas getting up to 110-120F. Currently our hottest visitors are from Las Vegas at 109F & Phoenix at 107F in the evening. Our coldest current visitors are from LaPaz at 45F & Dublin at 45F (at night there).

[Angela M...]

Hi Betty, sorry you are feeling the effects of the humid weather. I have been running my A/C constantly for four days now just to keep the humidity down. Sure hate to think what the hydro bill will be like this month. I have twelve feet of garden doors and a large skylight on the south side of my house that is a heat magnet. It is great in the winter but not so good in the summer so I try to put up a shelter on the deck to shade the doors somewhat. I remember being in Las Vegas a few years ago and it was 104 F but not humid so I didn't mind it too much, in fact it was great for my Arthritis and I did a lot of walking with very little pain in my back and legs.
I remember the good old days in Buffalo in the 60's when my cousin and I would go over the border every weekend to drink in the bars and do some shopping. We would go to a Steak House in Niagara N.Y. for a great steak dinner with a baked potato, salad and beer for only $3.00, It was great. We also went to a club in Buffalo that had a carousel bar in the middle and a cabaret. Those were the days when the Canadian dollar was worth something.

[Betty]

It's been warmer than usual for about a week, but being right downwind from the Great Lakes, extremely humid & steamy too.

They said it would only be in the low 80s F today, so I was worried my AC might be breaking down because it didn't seem strong enough today. I just found out it's 88F outside, so I guess the AC is fine. The humidity outside went down a little now, but that doesn't matter since I had the AC on full all day. With my COPD, I'm not going out there if I don't have to.

I moved to this smaller place from a much bigger place, so had 2 identical AC units. But only use 1 for this smaller place, & keep the other one in a closet. I got them on sale delivered to my doorstep for only $89.95 each about 8 years ago. So I guess I got my money's worth out of them.

Neither of them had to work as hard in the old place by running 2 of them, plus the old place was naturally cooler, so I needed them less. This place gets unbearable hot on just a moderately warm day even with fans in the windows. But because this place was smaller, I planned on only using 1 AC unit, so I rotated the usage by installing the least used AC unit, & stored away the one that got used to most in the old place - so I'm stretching their lifetime.

[Angela M...]

Yeh I hear you about the A/C units. When I first bought my house it was about 900 sq. ft. and one 10,00 BTU window A/C would cool the bedroom and living room pretty good. We mostly needed it for sleeping comfortably but it was a good unit and worked very well. I actually built it myself from spare parts at the company I worked for so it contained some obsolete parts but I knew which were the best parts to install as I worked for Quality Control in those days. I had that unit for 10 years and sold it to a neighbour who had it for another 5 years and I serviced it myself to keep it in top shape. After that I built onto the house expanding it to about 1700 sq. ft. and added central air and a new furnace. That was in the mid eighties and I just replaced the furnace and A/C last year for more modern efficient units.
I was trying to work outside today but the humidity was bad and I got a bad headache so I went indoors and lay down for awhile. I can only guess how you feel in this weather but at least you have the A/C to make it a bit easier. I often wondered how the cats survive with fur coats. Mine would go down to the basement where it was cooler and curl up in a chair until we came home from work. I hear cooler weather is coming and even though I like summer, I think Spring and Fall are my favourite times. If I get cold I can wear tights and a sweater. 

[Betty]

Headaches can be a sign of oncoming heatstroke, Co or Co2 poisoning, or O2 deficiency. In hot humid weather you absorb less O2, & air pollution stay closer to the ground. Ozone levels are usually higher, & closer to the ground in hot humid weather too, causing breathing problems, & possible lung damage.

The weather just said since they started record keeping in 1890, we never had so many days in a row in the 80s F in September. It seems every year recently we're breaking a lot of weather records by a dramatic amount, plus coming close to some records made 60-100 or more years ago all the time.

Yet the deniers still swear there is no climate change, or it's all natural changes. Don't these people ever watch or read the news, or are they just watching 1 channel & reading only 1 paper for all their news?

By getting all your news just from people that agree with your opinions, you're not getting all the news & the whole truth. One may not always agree with the truth, & the truth isn't always pleasant, but by putting your head in the sand, denying & ignoring the truth won't make it go away.

If you don't keep yourself open & listen to other people's opinions, how can you possibly form an intelligent opinion of your own? Never have a favorite news channel or newspaper. You must get your information from many sources, so you can hear all sides of a story, & objectively discover the truth.

Climate change deniers are only widespread in the USA, it's are incredibly rare everywhere else in the world.

[Betty]

Autumn has been merciful in my town. With summer-like temperatures today & tomorrow. But last week we had near hurricane force winds for a couple hours. Before & after those few hours though, it was just a real windy day. We have 1 1/2 months of autumn to go yet. Let's see if our luck holds out.

Meanwhile in some areas of Western USA states they've already had a bit of snow.

Our current coldest visitor is in Anchorage Alaska where it's 29F (-1.7C) while our hottest visitor is in Honolulu at 88F (31C).

This evening it's clear & 64F (18C) in my town & London, 63F  in San Francisco & NYC,  41F (5C) in Moscow, & a rainy 63F in Melbourne. For the first time in a long time, the majority of our visitors are having pretty close to the same temperatures outside at the same time... but not all of them.

Not getting used to the clock change. Never get used to it being dark by or long before dinner time. The kitties know when it's their usual dinner time, even if the clock says they have an hour yet.