Hope you have AC most places around don’t and are built for winter.
15 Likes
Oh, yeah. We have cooling locations in many towns in case of power outages, too. Last month, I encountered many neighbors at the library when a storm caused some locations to lose power for almost a week*. It’s rare for the whole grid to go down, though. I got a battery backup / solar generator to keep myself (and perishable food) cool in case there’s a similar problem in the future.
^That was the fourth multi-day outage in my area this year.
12 Likes
Generators are such a great idea in a lot of places. My friends in the Smokies got one b/c waaay up in the mountains.
Our local electricity/gas company is far more interested in profits and feeding their shareholders our money than in building new and maintaining existing infrastructure, and trimming the trees who grow near the lines. dte energy charges us the country’s highest rates, and offers almost the lowest reliability in the US. They’ve even had the gall to request another rate hike. It’s only been a couple years since the last one, and this follows a buncha recent blackouts! Detroit area generator sales keep increasing every year because they’re so hopeless…mayhap they are in cahoots. The increasing number and severity of storms sure ain’t helping.
We had a brownout a couple weeks ago. The a/c kept turning off and coming back on, waking me up. It finally stayed off long enough the heat kept me awake, so I got up. I noticed the a/c unit’s lights were still on, so I knew what was going on. At least it was only for a few hours, but our orange sherbet got pretty melty. 
Still, I put some in a couple bowls, and it was plenty cold enough to cool us off. 
Our contractor came over the next day, at D’s request, to make sure our circuit breaker box is OK, and it is. He figured dte had to do some redistribution among the various power stations, and our area got screwed.
13 Likes
14 Likes
Wildfire smoke moved in again on Sunday, and there’s an air quality alert for all of today, too. Local news’ weatherman said he thinks it could/should be extended thru Wednesday.
13 Likes
Wow, this sounds very similar to events in the Greater Philadelphia Region (and Delmarva Peninsula, according to my cousins’ complaints). The rate hikes and tree trimming/fallen tree cleanup in particular are causing the most negative feedback. The latter could be due to labor shortages caused by the regime’s actions, based on news that shed some light on who was doing that work. If so, we can expect the problem to get worse (as well as the costs and time needed for repairs / service restoration to go up).
My neighbors and I have been noticing that pattern, too - partial outages. Since I’m in an apartment (and not a fan of explody fuel), I went with a unit from Jackery that has a LiFePO4 battery (review here). We’ll see if balcony solar and bifacial panels are enough for recharging in 12 hours or less, but initially it should get me through a week with the basics for staying connected and keeping cool. 
The food waste from the last two-day outage ticked me off, so I also got an electric cooler (fridge/freezer) from Anker with two batteries. They should last for up to 4 days on their own, allowing me to extend the 4/48-hour food safety limits of my main fridge/freezer. The plus side for the Anker is it has wheels, so I can use it on road trips (or grocery shopping on hot days). The Jackery is less portable than I’d like, but with a hand cart and portable ramp I could get it into my car (or dream RV / van life model 
).
The forecast here shows we’re in for a stormy week, too. 
15 Likes
Hope everything’ll be OK! We’ve had quite unsettled (and unsettling) weather, too.
Sounds like you’ve made very ahem sound purchases! Well done !!!
I asked my BF, while watching a massive storm on a big map during a local weather report - I think it stretched alla way from texass to Minnesota - “Do you remember storms ever being this big when you were a kid? I sure don’t.” He said no.
10 Likes
It’s very hot today… my garden is very unhappy right now, cause it’s too hot. 
14 Likes
Hot for Finland is going to be my new favorite way of describing the weather. Or maybe just my general state of being.
Q: How is it out there?
A: Pretty hot for Finland.
Q: How are you today?
A: Pretty hot for Finland.
Works both ways.
17 Likes
Q: any decision on where to go on vacation?
A: pretty hot for Finland
16 Likes
Starting to wonder when it isn’t an appropriate response.
14 Likes
Q: What’s your favorite movie?
A: Pretty Hot For Finland
It does work for anything!
15 Likes
Q: Hello, members of the UN, and welcome to our restaurant. How does everyone like their Pad Thai?
A: “Pretty hot for Finland!”
16 Likes
Pretty hot for Finland, if you know what I mean.
16 Likes
12 Likes
14 Likes
22 Likes
From my little weather station just now. That “feels like” temperature 
will be going up in the afternoon and the rest of the week. I did a little yard work early this morning, just picking up some downed branches from the weekend’s afternoon thunderstorms and pulling a handful of weeds, and it already felt like a steam room.
16 Likes
I thought it looked like Canada air out there Sunday and yesterday. 
DTE completely blows. They got two rate hikes and that peak-hours price gouging last year and yup you bet they want another rate hike this year. It’s well past time for us to fight for the Public Services Commission to be elected members instead of appointed industry shills. 
@RAvery: I am more than a little jealous of your forecast. Boring and pleasant would be simply amazing after our last 2 weeks. Heck, it was 86, but dry yesterday and I thought “it’s so much cooler today”. 
17 Likes