Yeah, we were just in the regular old drought that sucks for farmers and people who try to keep a lawn but doesn’t have any real long term impact. Lake Michigan(after being at record highs due to no mega drought here) is supposed to have water levels rise through spring and into summer, but it had just continued to drop since winter.
In the past week fields went from parched to flooded and parts of Detroit are also flooded after getting 6 inches of rain in a single day. Like I said, I’ll gladly take this over what you are experiencing out west, but it’s been a pretty bizarre(just not as extreme) weather year for us here too.
Nesrie
5442
A lake that size losing water is certainly not a good thing, even if it’s only one size. I mean… yikes. I certainly wouldn’t wish these conditions on anyone, and I hear the NE is getting their own heat wave. I don’t know how anyone is better off with dueling heat waves on each side of the country.
CraigM
5443
One thing to realize about the midwest* is that it is the inverse of the PNW, in that the wettest months are July and August, the driest January and February. Storms that dump 1-2" of rain in a 24 hour period are the norm, and 3-4" not uncommon. They can get big snow storms, but the overall precipitation primarily comes in summer storms.
6" is still a lot, and summer flooding is definitely a thing.
This has a lot to do with the jet stream curling around the lake, as well as how this creates back pressure that pulls hot moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, up through the Mississippi river system to Chicago.
*speaking mostly in a northern Illinois into northwest Indiana perspective, but generally true for the whole region.
We hit 100, 40 percent humidity. Not the end of the world, but it’s June FFS.
Reporting in from MA: yeah, it’s hot. Not as bad as y’all got, but in the mid/upper 90s for several days is no fun, especially with the humidity. Blech. Soooo happy we had heat pumps put in just before COVID hit.
Side question: What do y’all set for your target AC temperature? We do 78 or 77 (somehow that one degree really makes a subjective difference to us). Given that the heat pumps / minisplits are relatively high on the walls, I suspect the temperature at “body level” is closer to 76, but I don’t really know.
Don’t forget thaw melt flooding for anyone near rivers as well. The accumulation of precipitation over the winter might not be a lot but when it has to go somewhere, that’s usually not until first melt. The Midwest truly gets their share of flooding, but you wouldn’t think of that unless you see their yearly cycle of precipitation. Of all the weather patterns they get, an interesting one is called the Midwest Water Hose. That one affected multiple states but there’s a writeup on it here.
CraigM
5447
Honestly the worst flooding tends to be in that interim spring period when there is still ice and snow, but you get a big rainfall just above freezing. The snow and ice serve to dam up a lot of the water pathways, and make everything retain more surface water. You also get ice dams along secondary waterways that help prevent them from draining off.
Granted this doesn’t cause the big rural farmland flooding, but mostly urban landscape flooding. Sidewalks, roads, etc. tend to get this a lot. Wet feet are just a fact of life.
72 degrees, power bill be damned. :)
It makes me wonder, is the PNW as a region still the highest in rainfall across the US per year?
The Olympic Peninsula in the rainiest place in the continental 48. But a massive chunk of the PNW lies east of the Cascade Mountains, and it’s dry AF out there in normal years.
The only reason agriculture took off east of the mountains is because the New Deal built massive hydroelectric dams and reservoirs.
Well that, plus the rich volcanic soil in the region.
But yeah, lots of people forget that the eastern half of Washington state is in the rainshadow of the Western half, divided by the Cascades. The eastern part of the state gets much less rain and much more sunshine, with higher high temps and lower low temps.
ie, it’s basically a well-irrigated desert.
CraigM
5453
I mean for Portland specifically? Yes. The average rainfall totals per year would be in the top 20 rainfall totals for Chicago in the last 150 years.
Sure there is the odd year Chicago may see more rain, but on average we see about 15-20% more. Chicago is ~38, Portland 44"
There’s a reason that there is a temperate rainforest system that runs from BC, Canada to northern California :)
I’m right in that range as well. When the humidity is bearable, 78. When it gets oppressive, 77. That’s assuming I can be in my comfortable clothes…if I have to wear something nice for some reason, it goes several degrees lower to make up for wearing more clothes.
LeeAbe
5456
I podcast I just pointed out something I hadn’t thought of, and can’t say I fully understand. This week was worse in the PNW because we had a high dew point. The humidity was low, but that didn’t matter, I guess? Humidity yesterday was 30% here, but the dew point was 65° IIRC.
CraigM
5457
Dew point is closer to an absolute measure of moisture in the air, humidity a relative one.
So the same amount of water at two different temperatures would have the same dew point but different humidity. The humidity was low because the temp was so high, air at 117f can carry a lot of water!
Dew point is the temp the air would cool to to become fully saturated. Once it gets to the high 69’s and 70’s it becomes uncomfortable period. It also reduces your bodies ability to cool itself through sweat (there is less capacity for air to absorb moisture)
Edit: yeah turns out the dew point locally was mostly in the 62-67 range the largest few days. Humidity may have been only 18% at the peak, but that’s only because the temp spiked up so hard it didn’t have time to take on more moisture.
Just curious, talking all day and night, or just during the day? I can’t sleep above 72 in the summer. I’m pretty good during waking hours with the heat, but I’m an oven at night.
I got curious about ours:
Haha found this, which seems right to me:
I actually tend to change it to 79 or 80 at night. Sleeping when it’s warm hasn’t ever been an issue for me. Within reason, anyway, I do keep it down to 80!
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