The heat!

[MikeG.]

There's a clip somewhere of a man cooking a couple of chops on a pan he just left in his car in the sun. No other heat source. It was part of a safety campaign against leaving kids and pets in the car. Anyway...wimps.......it was only about 30 today. I was camping in the Kimberlies in northern West Australia some years ago when I bumped into a firefighter burning off ahead of a bushfire. He said it was a good job it wasn't too hot or they'd be struggling to get the fire under control. It was 45 celcius in the shade. On our ride down through France into northern Spain last year it got to 43 degrees 3 days in a row.......and we had to ride 70 miles a day. Stop moaning, OK! :lol: :lol:

 

[NickM]

It hit 40 here last year. I was doing a rifle shooting competition that day which involved lying in the direct sun wearing a very heavy leather shooting jacket for up to 25 minutes at a time.

At one point a breeze popped up which i thought would make it better. I turned to face the wind and it was like having a hairdryer pointed at you!

I went to Death Valley a few years ago and it was 50 degrees :shock:

 

[doctor Bob]

It was 45 celcius in the shade. On our ride down through France into northern Spain last year it got to 43 degrees 3 days in a row.......and we had to ride 70 miles a day. Stop moaning, OK! :lol: :lol:

I worked on a sheep station in S. Aus, 200k NW of broken hill as a kid for a couple of years, we hit 45C quite often, the station hands called them "pommie bakers". I could handle the heat, never did get used to the flies.

 

[MikeG.]

.......I worked on a sheep station in S. Aus, 200k NW of broken hill as a kid for a couple of years, we hit 45C quite often, the station hands called them "pommie bakers". I could handle the heat, never did get used to the flies.

I could handle the heat and the flies. I just never did get used to the Aussies! :lol: :lol:

 

[MikeG.]

It hit 40 here last year...........

NickM location: Hampshire. :lol:

 

[Lons]

I went to Death Valley a few years ago and it was 50 degrees :shock:

The afternoon we got there my wife opened the car door, promptly shut it again and said "there's no way I'm going out into that". :lol: It was so hot you couldn't breathe.
Did you stay at the Ranch in death Valley? We couldn't get a room the main building as there were only those little huts available which weren't as good as my shed. Quite an experience though.

 

[Mark A]

I went to Death Valley a few years ago and it was 50 degrees :shock:

The afternoon we got there my wife opened the car door, promptly shut it again and said "there's no way I'm going out into that". :lol: It was so hot you couldn't breathe.
Did you stay at the Ranch in death Valley? We couldn't get a room the main building as there were only those little huts available which weren't as good as my shed. Quite an experience though.

We went there again last July. 53°C/127°F was the official day temperature, and over 40°C at midnight. It was a bit too warm for long hikes, but shorter walks were manageable.

 

[sunnybob]

Cyprus often gets 40 plus in the summer. When it goes past 40, the government insist all outside workers down tools and head for shade. You would be astounded how many 39.5 days we get :roll: :shock:
I once used an infra red thermometer on my car, which had been parked in the sun all day. The windscreen came back with 75c, and on opening the door, the coarse fabric seat registered 57c. I pointed it across open space and got 50c on the screen.
There was a very tragic case a few years ago of a doctor taking his 2 children to school. Got an emergency call and as he was passing, he stopped, left the kids in the car for a couple of minutes to check the situation. The person was critical, he spent a bit of time before remembering the kids. Both died.

The last two years our summer temps have dropped a bit, as the UK's has gone up, but the hottest I have been in here was 10 years ago. The official temp was 43 for several days running, and at 10.30 pm (2 hours after sunset) my pool was registering 38c. It was too hot to lay in.

But can we have our sun back please mister? I'm not used to using a sheet at night. :roll: :roll:

 

[Trainee neophyte]

But can we have our sun back please mister? I'm not used to using a sheet at night

It is unseasonably cool. For the last 4 or 5 years UK has had warmer spring weather than Greece. But the UK gets lots of rain to go with it. It's nearly July and we are still under 30°C which is a bit weird.

2007 we had 45 °C for a week, in three successive waves: the first in June, which was unexpected, then in July, and then again at the end of August. That was the year 10% of Greece caught fire.

If Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Change©® is giving me cooler weather, I'm a big fan. Under 30°C means I can work comfortably. Must send Greta a note asking her not to mess with the weather - just like this is perfect.

 

[MikeG.]

........But the UK gets lots of rain to go with it........

It's rained here (Essex Suffolk border) 3 times since March, and two of those were trivial amounts. My part of the country gets less rain than Jerusalem or Johannesburg. Much of Greece gets more, or much more, rain than we get. We average 500 to 525mm a year.

 

[MikeG.]

I went to Death Valley a few years ago and it was 50 degrees :shock:

The afternoon we got there my wife opened the car door, promptly shut it again and said "there's no way I'm going out into that". :lol: It was so hot you couldn't breathe.
Did you stay at the Ranch in death Valley? We couldn't get a room the main building as there were only those little huts available which weren't as good as my shed. Quite an experience though.

We went there again last July. 53°C/127°F was the official day temperature, and over 40°C at midnight. It was a bit too warm for long hikes, but shorter walks were manageable.

Many years ago I was camping in the Namib desert, using a roof tent (a tent on the roof of my 4x4), when it rained. Given that it can go decades between rainfall in the Namib, this was quite an event. However, whilst the rain wet the top of my tent maybe 10 feet up in the air, it didn't wet the ground at all. It vapourised before it got there.

 

[Rorschach]

Many years ago I was camping in the Namib desert, using a roof tent (a tent on the roof of my 4x4), when it rained. Given that it can go decades between rainfall in the Namib, this was quite an event. However, whilst the rain wet the top of my tent maybe 10 feet up in the air, it didn't wet the ground at all. It vapourised before it got there.

While it is certainly true that rain can evaporate before touching the ground, implying it can happen within 10 feet, but not in the thousands of feet before it reached your tent is pushing it a bit even for you Mike. :lol:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

We had leats running this month that were dry through March, April and May. Torrential rain, I've just used a water butt for the first time for a few weeks - I was using them every day in April.

 

[NickM]

It hit 40 here last year...........

NickM location: Hampshire. :lol:

I meant the UK but, having checked again, it was "only" 38.7 (Cambridge, July 25 2019).

 

[NickM]

I went to Death Valley a few years ago and it was 50 degrees :shock:

The afternoon we got there my wife opened the car door, promptly shut it again and said "there's no way I'm going out into that". :lol: It was so hot you couldn't breathe.
Did you stay at the Ranch in death Valley? We couldn't get a room the main building as there were only those little huts available which weren't as good as my shed. Quite an experience though.

Yes, we stayed for one night. I wouldn't rush to go back, but I'm really glad we passed through as it was an incredible place. The kid's playground had material on all of the metal apparatus so they didn't burn themselves. Same with the steps into the swimming pool.

 

[Lons]

Yes, we stayed for one night. I wouldn't rush to go back, but I'm really glad we passed through as it was an incredible place. The kid's playground had material on all of the metal apparatus so they didn't burn themselves. Same with the steps into the swimming pool.

Same with us Nick, we'd done several smaller canyons, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon etc, a few night in Vegas which my missus hated then through Death valley, Mamoth Lakes, Yosemites and on up the coast ending in San Francisco, an enjoyable 5 week trip.
We had hired a brand new top of the range Chrysler 300 which was black until after I'd driven it around the rough route around Monument Valley ( not advised apparently ) then it was bright red with thick dust however the enterprising Indian tribe had installed a car wash across from the main road. :lol:

 

[TheTiddles]

The incident solar radiation level here and nearer the equator isn’t hugely different, so a black body will rise to similar temperatures out in the sun, obviously the ambient average can be very different. We’ve had moulded plastics deforming in cars in the USA, when measured they were reaching 74c

Aidan

 

[That would work]

Heat is one thing, combine heat with extreme humidity! When I lived in West Africa you literally could not dry clothes properly even if it was 90 deg.

 

[Richard_C]

Back to the original post, and drifting off the topic of heat, have a very similar trunk. Will post pictures later.

Brass fittings look the same. All I know of it is that my father had it in the 50s. It might have come down from his family or maybe from a house sale, we lived in Devon and he would occasionally buy things for next to nothing from country house contents auctions, not as investments but to use as there wasn't much money about. It served as a blanket chest. The trunk has no names or anything to identify it.

The joints are dovetails but not high quality, you can see the scribed marking lines so I wondered if it was an apprentice piece or a DIY to a bought design with standard brass fittings.

Do you know anything about them, or about the type in general?

Back to heat. We had a US trip in the early 90s, mid June. Saw 120+ in Zion, 26 in Rocky Mountain NP with walls of old snow higher than the car on some roads. We had a Lincoln Town Car, climate control was flawless throughout, just set it to 68 and left it. Impressive. Even more fun, on our last trip we hired a small GM SUV with remote start, you could start it up from your motel room so the ac had cooled it before you got in. Handy, but environment irresponsible, when it pushing 115 at breakfast time.

But the most interesting part of this topic is the trunk....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Heat is one thing, combine heat with extreme humidity! When I lived in West Africa you literally could not dry clothes properly even if it was 90 deg.

I was in Auckland staying with my sister and commented on laundry being damp - she said the humidity was only 97%, I should be there when it was high. (I'm used to it, the humidity here goes back up to 99% again tonight.)