Not to complain or anything, but...

[fajrdrako]

I can't recall Ottawa ever being this freaking hot. Ever.

Humidex of over 48C, they say. Or 120F plus.

Kinda makes me long for January again. But not really.

It's not supposed to be this hot in August.

Comments

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Thankfully it's been raining a lot here today - I went out in it without a brolly, and it was lovely! Am no longer roasting!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, then, I am roasting enough for both of us. Or I will be, when I have to emerge from the air conditioning to go home.

Grump.

(I will try to give myself courage by picturing myself as the brave knights at Hattin, trapped in the July heat.)

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

We don't have air-conditioning in houses and cafés, so when it's hot here, it's horrible. The past couple of weeks have been ghastly.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what proportion of houses here are air-conditioned; more than used to be, as temperatures creep upward every summer. Many people I know have just one room in their house air conditioned, usually a bedroom, so they can sleep.

Yes, ghastly is the word for it.

[squashed.livejournal.com]

Isn't it just unbelievably ug?

I am so unbelievably thankful we have central air here or I would be so dead.

(ps that's 48 not 38 -- fruedien slip of the fingers?)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

When it's this hot the numbers just blur in my mind. Or maybe it's that my mind has melted.

It's hot here even with the air conditioning, which I guess is to be expected.

Have you heard a weather report about how long this is supposed to last?

[squashed.livejournal.com]

nods -- I figure you typed 38 because your brain didn't want to admit to 48!

Tomorrow looks to be much the same, though possibly not quite as hot by a couple degrees. And then Thursday looks to be much more like last week, so still hot, but will seem much cooler compared to today!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I figure you typed 38 because your brain didn't want to admit to 48!

So true! I want it to be 18. Is that too much to ask?

Thursday looks to be much more like last week, ... but will seem much cooler compared to today!

Small mercies!

[laitosto.livejournal.com]

Actually, the "Humidex" number on the Environment Canada website says 47 for Ottawa...

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

here autumn has started. Grey low skies, rain, strong wind blowing. Ok, it is not chilly yet, but I don't trust it a bit. eh, the prediction is 70% chance for rain, in 8 days less rain but fog in the night time. Temperature is admittedly still on the high side. But for me the greyness is more important.

(ok your weather is maybe a tad high for my taste, but a bit in between? Wouldn't it be nice if we were super alchemists and could mix and shake our respective weathers. (or would it become a horrendous episode of the sorcerer's apprentice?)) (I seem to be on a superpower trip today? maybe I am feeling inadequate?)

[squashed.livejournal.com]

Weather Network's humidex says 48 though (as of 3pm) -- and I'm right near the airport where they pull their info from.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cities/can/pages/CAON0512.htm

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

48? Is that even possible? This goes beyond my suspension of disbelief... I don't believe this heat....

Nope, refusing to believe in it doesn't make it go away. It was worth a try for a moment there.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

here autumn has started.

I wish it would start here!

Wouldn't it be nice if we were super alchemists and could mix and shake our respective weathers

If only we could! I wouldn't mind a little Antarctic chill right now, me and those penguins... sliding on ice...

A superpower trip sounds like a good idea. Superman used to use his super-breath to cool things down... Then there's Marvel's Iceman, who makes ice out of air. And Mr. Freeze, a very dorky Flash villain at DC Comics, who could make a lot of money legitimately right now.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Aaargh.

I'd weep but it's too hot to bother.

[lmondegreen.livejournal.com]

I know! I mean, Ottawa can get hot in the summer, but there's hot and then there's *hot*!

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

courtesy of wikipedia:

The record humidex in Canada occurred on June 20, 1953, when Windsor, Ontario hit 52.1°C. (The residents of Windsor would not have known this at the time, since the humidex had yet to be invented.) More recently, the humidex reached 50°C on July 14, 1995 in both Windsor and Toronto.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humidex

I wonder why we don't have a humidex

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

he record humidex in Canada occurred on June 20, 1953, when Windsor, Ontario hit 52.1°C.

Out of curiosity, I checked the weather in Windsor today. (They are considerably south of Ottawa.) Ottawa currently is 97°F/36°C (without taking the humidex in to account). Hmm, they're at 97°F/36°C, exactly the same as us, though the report says "partly cloudy", and we haven't a cloud in the sky. Just some haze around the horizon.

Maybe you don't have a humidex because you don't have as much of a temperature/humidex differential? I don't know what the reason would be. Here they tend to report humidex (in summer) and wind chill factor (in winter) because it's usually significantly different. And really, you don't dress for the actual temperature, you dress according to how cold or hot it is going to feel.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

How's Styx handling the heat?

[lmondegreen.livejournal.com]

Not too badly. I'm alternately running the de-humidifier and the air conditioner and the floors are cool-ish, and he has lots of water to drink.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Good. I'd hate to think of him sweltering.

[laitosto.livejournal.com]

According to wikipedia, the Humidex is a Canadian thing. In the States we have the heat index which, according to wikipedia, is different (and usually a little lower for the same conditions).

Right now, here, it is 32C with 59% humidity for a heat index of 36C.

Its just too damn hot.

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

I've done the same for six weeks now, we have had here over 35 day by day. Today is the first day the weather have turned.

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

I meant picturing the knights of Hattin.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

yeah, I saw that it was exclusively Canadian. I was just wondering why. If it is an informative unit of measurement, why isn't it adopted elsewhere (do the Canadian metreologists hold a patent ot something?).It would be nice to compare.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

too damn hot

Now, that sums it up!

the Humidex is a Canadian thing.

Huh... I didn't know that. And I'd wondered what a 'heat index' was. Now I know!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hope I'll be able to say 'the weather has turned' any day now. Today it's only going up to about 29C, they say... It sounds like a relief. Never thought I'd be saying that for 29C.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, Canadian things don't necessarily get adopted worldwide. Mostly Canadian customs get ignored by the rest of the world.

I suspect the reason is that the extremes of Canadian weather makes it more necessary and useful for people to know Humidex as well as temperature - it might be useful elsewhere, but with just an added bit of urgency in Canada. (Mostly at the -30C and +30C ends of the spectrum.)

Or maybe it's just that Canadians are unduly obsessed with weather.

The climate isn't much different in, say, Minnesota or Alaska or Russia.

Interesting question!

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I also didn't believe it ever would turn. On tv they said it was the hottest July EVER in this country. It has been terrible six weeks, but it's now over, and I'm enjoying a cool tauch of the wind. I hope it stays so!!!

I wonder at the heat in your country because I ever thought in Canada there is terrible cold and white eis bears walk peacefully along.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

On tv they said it was the hottest July EVER in this country.

I suspect it's true here too - maybe not as an average, but in terms of the extreme days. I haven't heard them say so. The weather reports are focussing on storm warnings and possible tornados.

What country are you in?

Yes, we get terrible cold - just wait till you hear my complaints about the weather in February! We don't get many ice bears around Ottawa, though. It's probably just as well, they'd clutter up the aisles of the supermarkets where they sell fish. We do see them on TV, drinking coca-cola. I suspect artistic license.

The thing is, we have two main seasons - "too hot" and "too cold". (Otherwise known as 'winter' and 'construction'.) It's called something like the Northern Temperate Zone, and I suspect the word 'temperate' there is sarcastic.

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

I'm living in Vienna, but I'm not Austrian. My native language is Polish. I've mentioned bears because as a kid I had read novels by Jack London and Curwood (the first name I've forgotten)and for me Canada will be forever bound with these stories.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Now, I've been to Vienna - I thought it was beautiful. I've never been to Poland - I've just seen it in movies.

We do occasionally get black bears in the area, and sometimes they wander into the city - that happened just a few months ago, when a cub was found wandering near the area I grew up it. I suppose it was trying to get to the river - going right along the city streets.

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

How funny! A cub going along the city streets! Yesterday at the evening I've searched for Ottawa on a map - it's pretty in the south; the stories I read in my youth were about Hudson Bay.

The other things I love from Canada is the rock group The Band (Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel) and Neil Young, Joni Mitchell. They are all united in a movie directed by Martin Scorsese "The Last Waltz" which movie I love deeply I've seen it about thirty times or more.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

A cub going along the city streets!

Yes, poor thing. The city authorities tranquilized it and took it out into the wilderness. It must have been totally confused by the terrain.

I've searched for Ottawa on a map - it's pretty in the south; the stories I read in my youth were about Hudson Bay.

Yes, Ottawa is far south of Hudson's Bay, thank goodness. (Though it was probably pretty hot at Hudson's Bay this week, too. Comparatively speaking.) I've been as far north as James Bay - never further.

But most of the population of Canada is spread out to the south, so you don't find a lot of people near Hudson's Bay, and no large cities.

I'm glad you like Canadian music - I do, too! I'd add k.d.lang and Ian Tyson to the list, and Cowboy Junkies.