Summer, for real.

Nothing like 104-degree heat to get the Seattlites to quit squawking about 83 degrees.

For the first time since I moved to the Seattle on the day after Christmas in 2001, I have never felt like I have experienced a proper summer or winter. Growing up in Idaho there was always a week or two in the middle of summer when you would get roasted in temperatures approaching the triple digits, and usually a bit of time with a few feet of snow on the ground. Spring and fall are reasonably similar, but summer and winter pass and something biologically never clicked with me that summer or winter actually happened. This week may have done the trick on the summer problem. We've been above 90 all week and an all-time record was set at 103 degrees measured at the SeaTac airport (the official recording location).

A little further east and inland the temperatures were a few degrees higher yet, reaching 106 degrees in Bellevue where I work. Just to experience it I went out for a mellow ride around a familiar loop at lunch. When I started it was 96 degrees and 65% humidity, but I didn't know the numbers at the time; I just knew it was hot. It was tolerable if you were moving at a steady pace, but going up hill (reduced breeze) the feeling was beyond uncomfortable to "I've got to get out of this". It was still fun and as I often tell myself when the conditions are rough (usually cold and/or windy), you know you are alive when you are out in it.

Today cooled down substantially to a rather comfortable 94 degrees. A week ago everyone around would walk to lunch when it was 85 degrees out and return reporting on how "hot" it was and that it was too much for them. Today the streets were busy w/ people walking around and commenting on the comfortable the 90 degrees felt.

Meanwhile, we've kept cool in our basement, which stayed in the mid-70s. I also heard on the elevator that PSE set a new summer peak load record yesterday. This summer peak is a relatively new phenomenon for the company, due to all the air conditioning that everyone has in their houses. I am curious how many people that cry to conserve for the sake of global warming and point at this event as further evidence for it are making these statements while sitting comfortable at home with their houses cooled by air conditioning units powered by fossil fuel generated electricity...even here in the hydropower dominated Pacific Northwest.