Seasons speedrun: Winter to Summer

[jajalala]

Well well well, looks like the weather finally got the memo and decided to warm up... This weekend was a scorcher, and this week looks not much better (Depending on your usual temperatures, you may laugh at me using that description for my 80°F (26°C) weather).

My dear roommate and I have opened the windows and started cooking cold meals (pasta salad, potato salad, etc). Still, she's getting worried all of a sudden like "Oh dear it's only May and it's already this temperature, what if we need to buy an A/C unit for the window or something...?"

Bro no way. I never had a proper A/C growing up, just icepacks, a box fan, and determination. I refuse to surrender to such an electricity drain. To be fair, I grew up in New Hampshire where the temps never go above 100°F (~38°C)... But how different could Boston really be?

We now have the fridge stocked with popsicles, but if you have any hot weather tips feel free to share them (or laugh at my delicate temperature constitution, it's okay I'll admit my own weakness in this department).

Comments

[pauraque]

Yes, it was quite an abrupt summer weekend! I do own a window AC unit but I often don't bother to put it in because it's so heavy, and it's rare in Vermont to have temperatures so high that I am genuinely uncomfortable. (I'm from California, so anything under 90F isn't really "hot" to me.) We also always get a temperature drop at night, so I can just put a fan in the window and blow the cool air in, and that does it for me as far as sleeping goes.

[jajalala]

Ooh powerful Californian temp powers!

The nighttime air is the best, I've got a fan set up now to bring it in, so at least the mornings and evening are alright... the the noon buildup remains powerful

[mirawonderfulstar]

The heat just broke here last night and it's a comfortable 70° degrees now but several days last week it got up to 90° and I was dying. This apartment has an a/c unit in the living room/kitchen which doesn't really reach into the bedroom so I don't tend to turn it on unless I want badly to cook something.

The hottest summer I have ever dealt with was when I lived in downtown Minneapolis several years ago. I was in a third story walk-up that was built in the early 20th century and it was routinely getting up to 110° during the day. That was the only summer I ever got an air conditioner hooked up. I was working nights then so I'd have the a/c running during the day so I could sleep and then walk to work after dark when it was still 85° but "cooled down" comparative to the day. Very very different than where I grew up, because as a kid I lived in the middle of nowhere surrounded by lakes so even if it was hot there was a breeze and I was never more than a ten minute drive from somewhere I could go swimming to cool off. I find the worst things about summer in the city (or even in a big town) are 1) the absolute heat trap of all that concrete and asphalt and 2) the lack of places to go casually swimming. I'm thinking about buying one of those plastic kiddie pools to put on the patio just to like... sit in and read a book lol

[jajalala]

110 degrees???? That is intense definitely warrants an air conditioner (especially if you have to walk up three stories to get to your place).

I'm lucky Boston is near the coast, so I think it has somewhat of a cooling effect? Not enough to prevent all heat, but I appreciate it.

Fuck giant parking lots, heat sinks the lot of em. Obviously I appreciate parking, but the heat absorption... yeowch. I think some cities have started experimenting with ways to make them less of a heat trap (like different/reflective materials or more plant matter incorporated somehow?), and I hope everywhere is able to implement some of those techniques someday.

If you have space for the kiddie pool.... That sounds like a worthy decadence for the heat.

[corvidology]

A move South would have your worshipping at the altar of the person who invented air conditioning!

[jajalala]

XD XD XD Oh I believe it... that's why I stay up north! I'll take snowstorms Nov-March in order to not melt into a puddle. TBH though I'm going to have to travel down south to Louisiana for work soon and I'm already sweating thinking about it.

[corvidology]

ALL my sympathies! The only time I was in Louisiana it was early April and I was melting... also, FLYING cockroaches is really something I could do without!

[jajalala]

😨😨😨 You have given me a new thing to be afraid of

[corvidology]

Luckily, they're pretty slow moving so you just pay attention and dodge them.