Interesting about the king tides!

After a warm few days ('though not humid), with the nights getting down lovely and cool (high 40s/low 50s), our typical July weather has descended: hot, humid, sticky, muggy, blechy. And do we ever need rain! There is a chance of thunderstorms each day, but we'll see if they develop. What we really need is a 24+ hour downpour, but that's nowhere in the near future. Poor farmers.

Over the weekend we got a whole lotta rain. Very unusual for this time of year. I believe Saturday my home town got almost 6" in a 24 hour period. I'm surprised it didn't set a record! There was a fair amount of flooding, but as far as I know, no lives were lost in this particular location.

Now we're in for a week of extremely hot temperatures. Highs are supposed to be in the upper 90Fs, low 100Fs with very high humidity. I plan to spend most of my time in the A/C.

The Kansas flooding made the news even up here, and the Weather Channel had some impressive videos. Around here, people are watering their yards and gardens in the Twin Cities - or at least they were until yesterday when torrential rains caused some streets to flood. (The new Vikings stadium in downtown Minneapolis, which hasn't even opened yet, had some hail and wind damage).

The July 4 weekend was very pleasant, and I enjoyed campfires both Saturday and Monday evening with friends. Local and professional fireworks were everywhere and nearly continuous. Now if we could just lose the mosquitoes...

I have been away for awhile. But here goes. I caught some of the news of the stadium stargazer. Kind of makes me wonder if the Vikings are getting their monies worth.
We have had storms moving through the state like you said, but it's just a bit sporatic. We get drenched for a few days, then nothing for enough time for the grass to start to brown.
One plus is the humidity that fills the Wig wam before each storm is keeping me well stocked with water from the dehumidifier so I can water the grass seed between storms.

So much humidity...a stalled front crosses central Minnesota, separating the warm juicy 'air you can wear' to the south (today had a high in the low 90s (34°C) dew points in the 70s (22°C) and a heat index of 100F/38°C) with cooler air to the north. Stepping outside is like walking into a wall or a sauna.

At least 2 tornadoes occurred along that line, to the west of the Twin Cities, and storms are expected here tonight as well. So far there are reports of damage but no injuries.

Heavy rains are falling along that line too, so there are flash flood warnings northeast of here. All sorts of weather action tonight.

(We had spectacular thunderstorms overnight this past weekend, which I was able to watch from the campground. Really impressive).

Your summer sounds quite as nasty as ours was last December. But all good things come to an end, and so does hot weather.

We are getting snow for the third time this winter as of today. At least down as far as 500 metres above sea level. A city called Orange is now the new white. With more than 5cms of snow, Blackheath, New South Wales, at the top of the mountains, may now be rechristened Whiteheath, and both the inhabitants of the Blue Mountains and the eucalypt forests there, are now blue with the cold. Another broadside all the way from Antarctica has already chilled out Adelaide and Tasmania, and business in Canberra is frozen, not only because of the recent election. .

EDIT 24 hrs later: Yesterday at Thredbo, a skiing resort in the Snowy Mountains, the temperature was -8C, but we've been told that with the wind-chill factor of a 60km per hr accounted for, it felt like -22.8C at 9.30am. Whilst at Casey station in Antarctica the temperature was -22.3C.

Those temperatures seem rather warm to me, wagga. But then it's summer there and I'm comparing them to usual winter temps here, so I guess that's not really fair.

On the other hand, this is statistically the warmest time of year here, and this week's forecast is living up to the billing. Highs by Thursday could push 100F/38C, and with extremely humid 'air you can wear,' the heat index could reach 105-110F/41-43C. Give me dry heat - or even snow - any time instead.

Those temperatures seem rather warm to me, wagga. But then it's summer there and I'm comparing them to usual winter temps here, so I guess that's not really fair.

I don't know about how fair or unfair it is to compare mid-winter Antarctic temperatures to mid-winter North American temperatures, then. Which is colder? Antarctica or the areas around the Arctic Circle? I know that Russia can get cold, and so can Canada. USA, except in Alaska, is still a good way away from the North Pole. Casey and Mawson are the Australian stations in Antarctica, there is an Italian station where there is a bit of an airstrip and there are two or three American stations, one at the South Pole, itself.

Normally our winters are quite mild, and snow is a rarity. But there is a distinctly cooler change of climate along the Great Dividing Range, which runs from Southern Victoria all the way up to the Torres Strait. Especially down South in the Australian Alps is this the case, around Canberra and up to 50 km away. These three cold spells, sweeping the continent have been quite sharp, so sharp that it was snowing as far north as the Queensland Border and beyond. On one day, a milder winter's day in Antarctica was actually slightly warmer than Southern New South Wales, which was interesting. Today it is nice spring/autumn weather, for us, and probably for you, too, with temperatures of 23C. But we are promised another cold spell later this week.

Your summer temperatures do sound quite usual to me, maybe a bit warmer than I'd expect for a cold place like Northern USA.

Summer has officially arrived here and the storms and rain have moved on, though not as much of the humidity as I would like. But it's MUCH better than it was a week or two ago. I'm very thankful it's taken until the middle of July to reach the super toasty temperatures that we're used to.

Heatwave in England! Currently 31 Centigrade (88 F) and very humid. So warm that... (shock horror) I've gone to work in a T-shirt!

The current dew point (78F/26C) is close to the local record. Fortunately the temperature is only 88F/31C, but it feels like a sauna out there (the heat index is 101F/39C). Tomorrow is only going to be worse.

wagga, I see I misspoke before in my temperature comparison, saying it was summer Down Under. Still, I'm a bit surprised that the Antarctic temperature was so mild for winter. I imagine that most of the time Antarctica is far colder than we are in the winter. How I wish for a little of that natural air conditioning right now!

One plus is the humidity that fills the Wig wam before each storm is keeping me well stocked with water from the dehumidifier so I can water the grass seed between storms.

I chuckle every time you talk about your wigwam. And how is your grass seed growing?

(We had spectacular thunderstorms overnight this past weekend, which I was able to watch from the campground. Really impressive).

That would have been quite the impressive sight!

I plan to spend most of my time in the A/C.

Ditto, especially over the next few days. Although I don't like to stay indoors this much, but at this time of year, it is regretfully necessary.

*revels in wagga's cold-weather descriptions*

Phew, King Erlian, that is warm, ugh, especially when you're not used to it!

Fortunately the temperature is only 88F/31C, but it feels like a sauna out there (the heat index is 101F/39C). Tomorrow is only going to be worse.

Ditto here, except a day after your area, of course. Tomorrow could actually set a record for July 22, we'll see.

I'm very thankful it's taken until the middle of July to reach the super toasty temperatures that we're used to.

No kidding. While we have had very hot days, and, overall, it was a warmer spring, we have not yet experienced the 2+ weeks of terrible, muggy, miserable heat and humidity that we can often get in July and early August. While we have had a few days of this at a time, then things cool down (to the point of some nights dropping to single digits Celsius! - higher 40sF). It's an odd pattern this summer, but I am not complaining.

However, as is the case with July, the next few days will be in the mid-high 90sF, with the humidex between 105 and 110F! Staying indoors as much as possible, but wishing I could be outdoors. Ah well, in less than another month this should begin happening.

We are still sorely lacking rain, wow. Dry, dry, dry. Despite that, the wheat, hay, and corn are flourishing. The corn was quite a bit higher by July 4th than knee-high! This week a number of wheat and hay fields have been harvested ... how I love seeing the huge, round bales sitting waiting to be picked up. Such a pretty, pastoral sight.

The talk of saunas reminds me of work. The building I work in tends to act like a huge sponge this time of year, and combined with the heat makes for the same conditions I could pay a spa for.
The grass seed is rather sporatic at best my good hobbit. If I permit my absent mind to wander, as it frequently does, I forget to water. though the rainfall of late has helped in the shaded areas.
Good to hear your local crops are doing so well. We see much the same here. It speaks well of the Creator when His creation can still flourish in conditions we would call oppressive.

The talk of saunas reminds me of work.

I'm reminded of the heat during the 1988 drought. I worked in a warehouse that was incredibly hot in the summer. One day I remember leaving work and noting that it felt relatively cooler outside - but the high that day was the warmest Twin Cities day in the last 50 years, with a high of 105F/41C.

I went outside at 11.30 last night to see an Iridium flare, and it was still like a sauna outside. Give me subzero temps any day!

Trivia note: heat waves here are always compared to the standard, the dust bowl days of the 1930s, when a number of record highs were set that still stand. But it's been pointed out that it's different today: that was a dry heat (extreme drought) but this is a very humid one, with lots of rain and little drought. Agriculture actually is influencing the humidity because corn pumps a lot of water into the air (and there is a lot of corn in this part of the country!).

*revels in wagga's cold-weather descriptions*

Do enjoy! In today's Sunday letters column, one Canadian visitor to Down Under commented what a bunch of wimps our Aussies are, when we whinge about the cold. As my Scottish-born husband has also pointed out to me. But here in Australia, we depend mostly on reverse-cycle air conditioning, which is usually turned off when people are either asleep or not inside. We don't usually have the sort of all-day central heating that might be mandatory in places like Scotland or Canada, and even further south. Nor do our power bills allow for it. Nevertheless, it was he who organised that our elderly cat, Copper, aged on the wrong side of 18, enjoys all night the warmth of the sort of thermostat-governed heater to support his increasingly tottery frame. And it is hubby, himself, who likes to hug the heater as well.

I'm also glad to see your harvest doing so well. Did you know that in 1988, when you said there was drought in Canada, we were having heavy rainfall and floods here?

Still, I'm a bit surprised that the Antarctic temperature was so mild for winter. I imagine that most of the time Antarctica is far colder than we are in the winter. How I wish for a little of that natural air conditioning right now!

Even that Casey station reading isn't a normal cold temperature for here. Remember it was the Wind chill factor that made Thredbo's low of -8c seem even colder than Casey. And yes, as mild as that Antarctic "day" might have been it was surely only a midwinter lull, marking that the sun might have made an appearance of some sort, and a midpoint to spring. Doubtlessly it is now quite as cold as you would like and expect in Antarctica. We almost had the hottest July day on record: it was 25C max on Friday, 22nd July. And today it was a good ten degrees lower, even by lunchtime.