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31 July 2008

It's doing this again [More:]...and has been, it seems, for two straight months. A hot, hazy, bright, muggy day followed by late afternoon/early evening thundershowers rolling in. This weather is fine summer weather...for the Midatlantic and points South. It's weird and depressing for a New England summer. Some reasons it's tiring:

1. everything in the house is damp. Get in bed at night, the sheets are damp. Go to towel off in the morning, the towels are already damp. Pick up the newspaper, it's damp. I even went to eat some crackers last night, and despite being in their box in a wax paper bag, they were soggy too, and when I bit them they bent like pieces of cardboard.

2. Late afternoon thundershowers are a shame when all day, you've been sweating through the mug and fug telling yourself you'll get some relief by heading to the beach that night.

3. Line dry my clothes to save energy? Bwahahah!

4. Wanted to havea BBQ? Bwahahahah!

5. The arts-in-the-park festival is losing a ton of money. I'm afriad they'll have to cut the budget for next year as a result.

On the upside - the plants are going crazy. Everyone's garden is tropically abundant.

But the storms are just freaky in their number and power. I'm no T-storm fraidypants, having grown up with lightning storms and blue northers, but twice this summer I have considered going to the cellar.
Wanna switch? We had pretty much a month without rain. The lawn all but died (I've never seen it turn yellow/brown before).
posted by CitrusFreak12 31 July | 20:06
I had the same thought, CF. As for your damp towels, Miko, have you ever thought of getting a towel warmer? It certainly makes the winter (i.e., the 5 or so days it gets below 30 degrees) considerably more comfy here in Texas.
posted by Doohickie 31 July | 20:13
The weirdest part of SoCal's rainy season (aside from the fact that the word "winter" has been replaced in my vocabulary with the term "rainy season") is that there's no thunder. And no lightning.

I had no idea how much I missed it till one storm earlier this year, when it was preceded by a terrible crack and that blue-white flash. And while everyone around me looked startled, it made me feel strangely pleased.

Of course, this is easy for me to say when I don't have to deal with it on any sort of regular basis. I remember one electric storm in Chicago the first year I was living there, in which the lightning hit the telephone pole outside my apartment, and the phone literally blew across the room. That was scary.
posted by scody 31 July | 20:17
We have had afternoon thunderstorms for the past two months as well. Every day there is rain. I like it. We have been dry for a while and the lakes, ponds, and canals were getting very low. Everything is green and lush and it gives me a good excuse to stay indoors in the afternoon. I don't have to hand water anything or turn on the sprinklers. The central AC removes all of the humidity in the house. Without the air I'm sure I would be well over it.
posted by LoriFLA 31 July | 20:26
It's only been in the past two days that the air quality hasn't been unhealthy here because of the fires. Now it's only moderately bad, which is a huge improvement. It's been, what, six weeks since the smoke moved in?

Never thought I'd say it, but I'd trade you for the humidity.
posted by mudpuppie 31 July | 20:29
Miko, have you ever thought of getting a towel warmer?

Wha--?! No. No, I haven't. Wow, the things people think of...
posted by Miko 31 July | 20:56
Ha! I hear you. I got caught in a downpour today trying to walk to the train station to get home... great minds think alike, because I made videos, too. 1 , 2

Me with no umbrella, of course. I was stuck for about 25 minutes, and when I finally did run for it (it's a block and a half to the train station from where I was hanging out), I got nice and wet, so I got to ride the train home with my clothes steaming and my glasses fogging up. So much fun.
posted by BoringPostcards 31 July | 21:22
I have to admit, it's not my video - some other New Hampshirites. I happened to find it while Googling to see by how much the state has exceeded its annual average rainfall.
posted by Miko 31 July | 21:28
You all stole my weather. We're supposed to have a thunderstorm and nice drenching lovely afternoon rain here every day in the summer and we haven't been getting it. Instead it's just hot and sunny and sometimes we get thunder but no rain and, okay, I like not having to mow my lawn, but two summers of drought are severely uncool. Give us back our rain!
posted by mygothlaundry 31 July | 21:30
Oh, glad I found out where it belongs! I had a feeling it was from somewhere down your way. I'll package it all up and send it off to you!
posted by Miko 31 July | 21:38
I'm about 20 miles south of mgl. Here's another NC drought map.
posted by netbros 31 July | 22:47
They're considering mandatory water rationing in Henderson county.
posted by netbros 31 July | 22:50
thank you for the rain videos you guys, they were nice and nostalgia-making.

no rain here. it's still a hundred degrees tho.
posted by lonefrontranger 31 July | 23:16
Rain? What's that? my neighborhood's "Rainy Season" ended in February (two months early) and we've had two episodes of drizzle in the 5 months since. We only had one serious heat wave (lasting 5 days) and otherwise it's been perfect "move out here and buy one of these overpriced McMansions with an ocean view PLEASE" weather. But I still miss the occasional, randomly scheduled, rain. AND I DON'T WANT TO WASH THE BIRD POOP OFF MY CAR MYSELF.
posted by wendell 31 July | 23:25
I've been nostalgic all summer cuz the weather remids me of the Maryland of my youth. If these summers keep getting hotter, Maryland's gonna remind my mom of the Alabama of her youth. I oughta ask her if she's extra nostalgic these days. Then I can come to a wild conclusion based on wholly unscientific, yet deeply satisfying, methods.
posted by Hugh Janus 01 August | 08:26
Then I can come to a wild conclusion based on wholly unscientific, yet deeply satisfying, methods.

Yay!
posted by Miko 01 August | 09:18
Okay, my conclusion is that global warming is spreading a wave of nostalgia over the land that will usher in a new economy based on porch swings and sweet tea. Chalk futures will rise as even octogenarians, the rising heat a balm for their arthritic joints, join in daily hopscotch round-robins. Flooding will occur, sure; so too will entire cities burn out in electric flashes. But folks will just set a spell and chew the fat, remembering floods past and stories they remember of a time before even the first icebox came to Queens County.

I think the nostalgia will make the heat tolerable, at least until the dawn of the bat-sized mosquitos.
posted by Hugh Janus 01 August | 09:47
are you from new hampshire? i grew up in new hampshire. you're right, those rainstorms are crazy, but oddly enough i used to like them and their moody expressions.

i fancied myself a bad poet at age 15.
posted by eatdonuts 01 August | 11:49
Hey look, it's a rainbow. || Tonight I went for a walk and bought some cherries.

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