Help!

[cushman350]

Forecast for Tomato Hell, TX

SKYWARN 6 FORECAST
Heat Advisory Again
A large area of hot air will cover most of the central and southern U.S. all week. This may even last into next week.

This simply means, very hot during the day with limited cooling at night. Oh yea, not a mention of rain. Highs will be close to 100 by 11AM and stay there until around 8 or 8:30 at night. That's around 9 hours or 100 plus weather. Maximum day time highs will be in the 105 to 110 range. A few places may do 111 or 112.

Ken Johnson, Skywarn 6 Chief Meteorologist
 

 
 
 
 

[Sun City Linda]

If its any consolation, some of us in SoCal inland will be suffering with you.  Next weeks forcasts are for triple digit turning humid.  Our nights don't stay as hot although during a heat wave like the upcoming one, we may only get down to the 70s.  Not early enough, or cool enough to really help much. Still, better than TomatoHell.

[grandmamac]

And here

SW Scotland, Lothian Borders
Headline:
A bright day but with a few showers. Light winds.

Today:
A bright day with sunny spells and showers. These showers will be mainly be light however the odd heavier one might turn up across the high ground of Galloway and the Borders. The showers will also be much more isolated. Maximum Temperature 17 °C.

Tonight:
Showers dying out this evening to leave a dry night with some clear spells. A cool night especially around Moffat and Peebles. Light winds. Minimum Temperature 7 °C.

Tuesday:
A mainly dry and bright day with good sunny spells and only light winds. This will be the best day of the week and will feel warm in the sunshine. Maximum Temperature 18 °C.

So - only one tiny green cherry tomato showing. This may be the other end of the tomato hell spectrum..

I do sympathise with you - I would find that kind of unrelenting heat unbearable.

[Deb]

I'm gonna stop whining about my low 50*'s at night and 70*-85* daytime temps.

Since I tend to melt at anything over 85*, I wonder how people can stand your southern temps, and why they stay? 

Deb

[ErnieHodge]

I wonder how people can stand your southern temps, and why they stay? 

Deb

Home is where the heart is, and my heart has always been in the South.

When your body acclimates itself it isn't as bad as it sounds. We have friends who set their air conditioners at 72 to 75 and then say 'it's so hot outside and when I go in the house it feels like a frezzer'.

It's not that it's hot outside as much as how cold it is inside. Air conditioning is a great invention but like a lot of other things that make our lives easier it can be and is abused.

And, if you turn your A/C up a few degrees your power bill will go down a few degrees. 

Your body will adjust itself over time if you slowly raise your thermostat a couple of degrees at a time until you get used to each adjustment. We have our A/C set on 86 during the day. When we go outside it still feels hot but the difference is a lot easier to handle.

I've seen snow twice in my life and would like to see it again. I just don't want to live where it snows (sorry Kathy). We can sit outside all year round and enjoy the weather even on those days when it freezes for a few hours.

[cushman350]

My thermostat is set on 80° during the day and 84° at night. I stay in Wichita Falls because my wife grew up here and her people ( encompassing alot) are here. My retirement check can go anywhere. WF is not too big like Ft Worth where I'm from, too many cars, people and everything.

[Wandering Rose]

Our high yesterday was 102  but, thanks to good insulation and ceiling fans, we did not need the AC at all. I'll never complain about our weather again.

Even in the worst of the winter, we have nice days, like you do,  Ernie. Although I might consider moving if those are year round temperatures, Deb...

Cushman, I have some Chibbiko (micro-tom size) seeds if you've got an indoor grow spot.  I have mine in swc windowbox style planters, but they'd be a perfect size for an EB jr.

Gma-mac, if you get that lone tomato to ripen, you should have it bronzed and mounted on a trophy plaque. It may be the only successful outdoor grown tomato in the entire Lothian region.

rose

[Sun City Linda]

Rose - Do you use a swamp cooler?

[morganmac]

Deb, I've said the same thing to friends and family up in North Dakota, Montana, etc. Why would human beings want to live in a place where it can get cold enough to freeze your eyeballs?!

We had a stretch of over 100 degree temps here, but we haven't returned to that in a few weeks. Needless to say, I understand why gardeners take a siesta through July and August here. Just watering the pots on my patio was exhausting. I'm biding my time until I can start cool season crops...seems like a good time to plan what to do with those three EBs I just ordered with the current special!

[Wandering Rose]

Linda,

Nope, no swamper. I had it removed this year when we put three coats of an insulating white top polymer coating on the roof.  It was a dust funnel when the wind blew, useless in the monsoon season, and annoying to listen to when running. We replaced it with a window A/C  powerful enough to cool the entire cottage should we be expecting guests or entertaining. Though we used it often last month, we still fell into the lowest tier & cheapest rate usage level and our entire utility bill was $78.00.

I've been working on making our home as energy efficient as possible, bit by bit, for some time now. Once I'm convinced that I can't shave any more off our  daily KW usage level, then I'll be ready to investigate converting the entire house to solar.

When the humidy is low, we open the house up at night to cool off and close it up again in the morning. We have large trees in  the yard, double-paned windows and ten foot ceilings indoors and in the summer, I add a row of big potted plants on the south side of the house to help cool that wall,

I have hung a curtain  on a spring rod in a doorway so that we cool only the bedroom and office half of the house which is where we spend our time.  We use an on-demand water heater and schedule baths, laundry, and running the dishwasher to happen during the low KW cost periods of evenings and weekends.

The next energy hog I'm going to tackle is the refrigerator.  Summit makes a very efficient freezer on the bottom unit that I've had my eye on for a  while now.....

rose

 

[Sun City Linda]

I have a lot of trees too. Mess to clean up after in Fall but they make a big difference and I can open up at night most nights here too. We are blessed in that regard.