It must be summer!

[MarkBC]

How appropriate that today -- the first full day of summer -- marked the high temperature for the year so far at my house: 88°F.

I should say that I'm not really celebrating this -- personally, I have little use for temperatures >75°F

...but then, it's not all about me, is it?

 

[Ted]

88°? That's a nice day. We were 100° yesterday and 106° last Saturday. I guess it is all relative to the climate you are used to.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

We are wimps here in Monterey. This morning it was 48 with drizzle and most of the day that way. Than the sun gods showed us some favor and it warmed up to 65 ish,but sun and no fog. It's sneaking back as I write.
We are wimps here. Frank

 

[MarkBC]

88°? That's a nice day. We were 100° and 106° last Saturday. I guess it ia all relative to the climate you are used to.

Yeah...I grew up -- in my tweens and teens -- in Redding, CA, so I am very familiar with 100+ degree temperatures. But being familiar with isn't the same thing as liking...at least, not for me.

(I claim that Redding has the highest temperatures of any non-desert place in the country. Redding gets about 40" of rain a year, so non-desert...I haven't confirmed the "highest temperatures" part, but during the 10 years when I lived there we had a couple of days of 118° and many many days of >110...and anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

)

Bend's only real claim to temperature fame/infamy are our summer lows, which frequently dip into the 40s mid-summer, though the average lows are a little warmer.

 

[ski3pin]

72° here right now, just right.

 

[Gormley Green]

72 here as well, perfect day for a mountain bike and a motorcycle ride. And now a BBQ. Feels like summer!

 

[ski3pin]

All the windows are open, a chorus of robins and evening grosbeaks outside, peaches are on the trees, the blueberries are ripening. It is summer.

 

[Lighthawk]

88°? That's a nice day. We were 100° yesterday and 106° last Saturday. I guess it is all relative to the climate you are used to.

Yeah, it was 96F up here in Nevada City on Sunday. Thank goodness it's cooled off so much!
It's running 59F tonight up on Banner Mountain, near my home.

 

[Foy]

Mid 90s in central NC yesterday afternoon, with humidity in the 70-80% range. Summertime in North Carolina, indeed.

Foy

 

[MarkBC]

Mid 90s in central NC yesterday afternoon, with humidity in the 70-80% range. Summertime in North Carolina, indeed.
Foy

Yikes! Man, that sounds uncomfortable!
I've been in the eastern seaboard states during the summer a few times -- but those were business trips, not by choice. But it is a beautiful green -- plants love that climate! Me? Not so much.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Yeh--here in Susanville we didn't get the memo-it's cloudy, windy and we are supposed to have thundershowers all day. The next couple of days are supposed to be in the 60's---60's- thought the first day of summer was just the other day, yep-no climate change here, had to dig out my long pants this morning when I walked the dog! Reno news was saying the temp is supposed to drop by 20 degrees from a high in the 90's yesterday and it will be windy with a red flag warning. I guess the fire folks will get allot of over time this year! Ah, fun in the west-can't wait for the next weather change, makes life and "adventuring" in my FWC exciting!

Smoke

 

[Foy]

Yikes! Man, that sounds uncomfortable!
I've been in the eastern seaboard states during the summer a few times -- but those were business trips, not by choice. But it is a beautiful green -- plants love that climate! Me? Not so much.

Yes, and "getting used to it" is not the same as liking it, I can assure you.

I spent much of the summer of 1978 in Montana doing the required "Field Camp", a mapping school for geology undergrads. On the return flight back to NC, I connected in Atlanta, at the old ATL airport, complete with the outdoor shlep from the airplane to the terminal building. It was between 9 and 10pm and the temp that August night was in the upper 80s and the humidity nearly 100%. After 8 weeks in the dry Western air, it felt as though a wool blanket soaked in hot water had been thrown over me.

Foy

 

[MarkBC]

Yes, and "getting used to it" is not the same as liking it, I can assure you.

That's for sure!
Growing up in Redding I was "used to" triple-digit summer temperatures: "102°? Of course it is -- it's July". We didn't use the word "hot" until it neared 110°. But humans there aren't a different breed, really -- vigorous outdoor exercise could still be dangerous when it's that hot. And even the poor people there had cooling of some sort in their homes, even if just a swamp cooler...you might literally die without it. That's what made it tolerable: you stay inside when it's hot!
And when it gets up around 115° or so you discover that the "wind chill" effect -- faster heat-transfer -- works at both ends of the temperature spectrum: open the car window when driving in those temperatures and it's not exactly refreshing -- it's like turning a blow dryer on your face!

(of course, this is all old news -- maybe quaint -- to those Members living in the Mojave or Sonoran regions.

)

But my whining about 88°

a couple days ago has brought the weather gods down upon us here: since mid-day yesterday it's been raining -- mostly sprinkling, but at times hard. Now, summer thundershowers aren't unusual here, but this isn't that kind -- just rain with highs forecast to be in the 50s, and that's a bit unusual for this time of year. Must be what it's like to live in British Columbia...

 

[MarkBC]

A sign of summer in Central Oregon:

McKenzie Pass Opens for Season

This is a very cool road, with great views at the summit, as in this photo (by Pete Erickson / The Bulletin). The summit area and the west-side approach are narrow and very windy -- not recommended for long vehicles or towing long trailers.

 

[MarkBC]

This post's content seems more spring-like -- along the lines of the baby-bird photos shared by Members in the Spring thread, but I didn't see it in spring -- I saw it this morning, and I just wouldn't feel right putting it in that now-expired Spring thread.

Frisky Frolicking Fawns!
In my backyard this morning:




I see fawns about this time every year in my yard, but those I've seen in the past must have been older...'cause when I first saw the fawn (before I saw the doe) it looked sooo tiny that at first I thought it might be some kind of mutant miniature deer!

...but it wasn't, I suppose -- just young.
While the baby was getting it's breakfast from Mom, Mom was intent on licking Baby's butt -- for a long time. But I guess human mothers are similarly obsessed with their young...or so I gather from listening to mothers at work talking about their babies.

 

[MarkBC]

Today was the first day of the year that we topped 90 in Bend -- 92° was the high at my house.
(53° was the low this morning).
Yeah, I know that summer highs in Central Oregon are pretty wimpy

...but considering that some summers we don't hit 100° at all, 90+ is still relatively/locally significant of summer.

 

[craig333]

Yep its hot. Merely 94 atm. Forecast to get hotter. Lucky me, since my work is in a factory I'm well adjusted to the heat. It can be dangerous to say this around certain folk but "thank god its a dry heat".

 

[Smokecreek1]

Sounds like here; it looks like summer has arrived, supposed to hit 100 later this week! We are used to the dry heat here and usually you can find some place to get cool around here, but the general feeling is we have never had so much wind, i mean like it blows all the time and the forests are drying up at faster than usual rate and hoot owl fire cutting restrictions are in effect; the woods look like they will be closed to wood cutting sooner than usual. 40 or so % snow pack-again, this year and a super hot summer = lot's of fires and problems. Again this wind is like you find at the coast or out near Gerlach. Those idiots who say there is no climate change, or global warming just need to take a look at what's happening around the world; yep, they actually have to believe there own fables now, or they get thrown out of their club. Two real good long time conservative friends of mine tried to tell me how there was no proof of global warming, took about 5 minutes of saying you can't mean that before, they both started to retract their comments-both know better and are environmentalists at heart and don't know what to do-like the Tea party and the far right have left them-but they would never vote for a Democrat! Enough of this, time to enjoy the summer!

Smoke

 

[craig333]

Been windier than normal here too. I've been trying to find some statistics that confirm that. Not everyone seems to have noticed.

 

[MarkBC]

Uh oh -- I'm hearing thunder outside but not seeing rain ...and you know what that leads to in dry western forests.
...........

UPDATE -- Be careful what you wish for! It started pouring out, and as I watched the welcome rain fall thick and heavy I noticed that my car's windows were open -- Doh!
And as it had cooled down I'd opened a lot of windows in my house -- including one over/next to my laser printer -- Doh-Doh!! Water isn't bad for electronics, is it?

I still expect to hear of lightning fires out of this on the local news tonight or tomorrow. Central Oregon is the kind of place were there can be a dust storm half an hour after it stops raining (in the summer, anyway). In Bend we average only 12 inches of precip a year, and most of that falls in the winter -- kinda dry....but I'm not complaining.