Dark Star

2 hours ago, Sundog said:

Just don't do it with snowfall amounts lol

I can see all kind of arguments about what counts, snowboards at 6 hour intervals, snow depth, grass or artifical surface, ruler slanting, incompetent Central Park Zoo Keeper measurers, wind causing discrepancies in measurement, etc. 

Back around 1980, I won the department's contest for first 1.0 " of snowfall, well, almost.  I used historical data, finding a pattern like that December, and sure I enough, I hit the date.  Everyone thought I had won, but the Professor measured it a few hours after the snow ended, so it had time to compact and melt, yielding just under an inch. So yeah, discrepancies galore...

7 minutes ago, nycwinter said:

will central park hit 90 or fall short?

I don't gamble, but I would love to see legalized weather betting...

Hazy!

2 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

we need the sun to be stronger to actually burn through these clouds.

 

I believe that occurs in exactly 10 days?

4 hours ago, winterwarlock said:

Oh sure 70 and clouds every weekend and 62 with light rain this Monday morning screams summertime

Temperatures have been average...

16 minutes ago, JustinRP37 said:

I am still not seeing any signs of true summer on the models. Now looks more average to just below average moving through June. Forecast for ticks and mosquitoes looks to remain extra abundant! 

Seems like summer to me...

45 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

it's windy and my neighbors have an open fire going between our two houses, I can smell the burning fat from here, I just hope they don't burn down both our houses.

 

Sitting around outside with a fire is pretty nice, but in suburbia, its an annoyance to your neighbors...

3 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Is there smoke in the sky? The color of the Sun looks off. 

11 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

5 pm update Central Park reached 87 and the AQI peaked at 161 which is bad for EVERYONE.  They said that the Canadian wildfire smoke wasn't just in the upper atmosphere but made it down close to the ground too which added to the problem with ground level ozone which we had since yesterday.

My high was 85 here and 91 inside my house so I turned on my a/c at 4:30

I had assumed that the Canadian Smoke was a major contributor to the Air Quality index.

23 minutes ago, Sundog said:

I think maybe he meant the color scheme? That's what I gathered from his post. 

36 minutes ago, bluewave said:

They actually make it look like things are cooling. Since the more recent climate normals are the warmest on record. Our warmer summers patttern bagan back in 2010. So when we use more recent climate normals they appear cooler than the climate normals did over 20 years ago.

 

 

 

That's why I say to use the total historical data, not the previous 30 year average from 10 years ago? 

16 hours ago, Brian5671 said:

was probably an add on  you could select when the house was being built....we are probably one of the few that still use it-but I don't like to turn on the AC unless it's needed-like the fresh air better but when it's HHH it goes on.

Supposedly they are more energy efficient that AC, though is mainly only good at night, and if it is a "normal" summer's eve where the temperature actually drops below 80 degrees.

4 hours ago, Sundog said:

How did I go my whole life without knowing about this? 

Probably was the "modern convenience" in late 1950s-60s before ACs took over?

2 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Very good point. I heard the same in the car this morning driving to work. I heard the air quality alert and assumed it was for the smoke. Then he said it was for ozone and I'm like what? 

I think this diagram answers my own question.  It seems wildfires can contribute to ozone formation?

1 minute ago, TWCCraig said:

Pretty smoky sunrise this morning. I noticed temps were a little slower to rise this morning than usual due to the smoke.

Lowest temp this morning came after 6am, despite the sun being up for over 40 minutes

So according to the NWS air quality index, the health alert is for ozone.  I recall that stagnant hot high pressure systems are conducive to the formation of surface level ozone, but I have also heard that others are attributing the air quality alert to the Canadian wild fires.  On Tuesday, the smoke was at the higher altitudes.  Wouldn't the smoke diffuse the sunlight to prevent excessive ozone formation in this case?  

1 hour ago, forkyfork said:

if we put a station a little west of the airport it would be the hottest

Union?  No, Newark was always warmer...

40 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

sounds like our healthcare issues with PBMs being the middlemen that are responsible for the increased costs.

Yes.  I can't fault a doctor making an honest income, but anything related to the medical field has an inflated price.  Syringes, masks, any piece of plastic...

1 minute ago, Sundog said:

NYC already had a nuclear plant that provided 20% of its electricity needs, free of global price shocks and instability, and a clean source of 24/7 baseload power. 

Then the geniuses that run this place decided that it needed to be shut down. And guess what? Now we use far more fossil fuels to make up the loss on supply. 

The only wingnuts are the pretend environmentalists that have a irrational hate for nuclear. 

Not sure if the ones that ran the place shut it down?  Government pressure shut it down,  I think?  Nobody wants a nuclear power plant in their backyard.  Some say it is not wise to have such plants near extremely densely populated areas.  That is a point to consider. Remember, nuclear power plants are run by people.  All you have to do is drive, or just interact with people on a daily basis and you realize that the unthinkable can happen.  In general, I think we are getting sloppier.  In theory, nuclear energy sounds great, but between regulations and government intervention, the price to produce electricity tends to be higher.  Plus the endpoint storage has still not been settled.  In my naive mind, I would think that each nuclear facility would be a target, just for the nuclear waste alone. Yucca Mountain sounded like a good idea, but even the 7 people who live in Nevada do not want the national nuclear waste depository there.  To me, there is no negative side to storing it there.  Naysayers will point to fault lines and earthquakes, but wouldn't the waste still be contained?

16 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

Look at the bill.  2/3rds is not electricity cost.  At least.  They get their money or the lights go out.  

Utility recovery fee.  They have an infrastructure in place, and the cost must be recovered, whether we use it or not.  Power lines to carry the electricity.  Of course now, many of the electrical utilities have sold off parts of their system, so one produces the electricity, while another transmits it, perhaps yet another maintains the lines...

29 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

Con Edison with a heavy emphasis on the *Con* part, this is a corrupt company and have been prosecuted as such.

Electrical generating companies are considered essential.  Therefore, they are guaranteed to make a profit, no matter how much electricity is used.

43 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Electricity wasn't even that bad up until 2020. Then we decided that we need to get rid of nuclear, shut down fossil fuels too quickly, depend on slow to be built and expensive off shore wind farms, etc. 

What can go wrong!

Another problem are homes becoming more efficient.  The power producing companies have to make a profit, so it doesn't how much you decrease your electrical efficiency, they still have to make the same amount of money...

17 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

https://www.life.com/history/heat-wave-photos-1950s/#:~:text=The summer of 1953 in,12 days in a row.

The summer of 1953 in New York City was torturous. The temperature was in the 90s (or higher) every day between July 15 and 21, and again between Aug. 24 and Sept. 4 a record-setting 12 days in a row. And that’s not even accounting for other  90-plus days in between.

Keep in mind that air-conditioning was far from widespread. Though the technology has been around since the early 20th century, it was then used primarily in movie theaters and other public spaces.

 

When electricity was relatively cheap...

2 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

oh that high in the 12z run is in a GREAT spot, there would be a downsloping westerly or northwesterly wind with a high in that position !!

Maybe bonus Canadian wildfire smoke?

1 hour ago, MANDA said:

Yeah, especially with 20% electric rate increases kicking in starting Sunday for all utility companies serving NJ.  

Also got a letter last week from home Insurance company (Chubb) that they have applied for a 12% increase.  They were not shy in stating why.  In a nutshell if approved I'll be paying 12% more for California fires, Florida hurricanes and any other weather calamity they want to throw in there.

Health insurance costs skyrocketing as well...

55 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

I'll never forget their largest fire-- Camp Fire (?) was started by fireworks being shot off at a gender reveal party by the father.

A !@##$ gender reveal party!

 

But the worst are "Activists" trying to make a point out there...

1 hour ago, LibertyBell said:

good riddance to commercial flying.  The airlines deserve it with all their corporate greed and prioritizing profits over passengers.  Have you seen how they have reduced leg room and overall comfort for passengers?  And they brag about it and plan on reducing leg room even more.  I hope they get a recession they never recover from.

Stop flying, it's better for the environment and your health too.  And there isn't an industry that deserves to suffer more than the airline cartels.

I would have hoped that businesses would have learned during covid that you DON'T have to meet in person for a lot of things.