• Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, the built environment, planning adjacent topics, and anything else that comes to mind. No ads, no spam, and it's free. It's easy to join!

NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Weather Thread

Ouch. No way for building codes to make any diff here
I disagree actually. Yes, the house is a total loss, but the longer it takes to peel the roof open, the better protected occupants are. I know the local Habitat for Humanity uses hurricane clips here. I've put in plenty of them. Not sure if it's changed, but they were required by local code as recently as ten or fifteen years ago.
 
I disagree actually. Yes, the house is a total loss, but the longer it takes to peel the roof open, the better protected occupants are. I know the local Habitat for Humanity uses hurricane clips here. I've put in plenty of them. Not sure if it's changed, but they were required by local code as recently as ten or fifteen years ago.
Those fasteners have been code for a long time. Here they only apply to trusses, not to rafters. But still, tornado winds will lift way more than those things can hold.The common name for those fasteners does not mean they resist actual hurricane force wind. They are simply called "positive connections".
The rationale for their adoption is that trusses are engineered to perform as big units, and when those units are faced by big wind they behave as big pieces and tend to lift away from the framed walls all together. The so called hurricane clips make a better connection to the wall frame, but only as far as the typically doubled top wall plate. Cheapo builders can get away with single plates if studs are placed under each truss, but the saving there is usually not worth the planning.
When tornado F-whatever winds hit a building Katie's bar of the door gets blown away as the big bad wolf's huffs and puffs dictate.
 
Last edited:
1714463902073.png
 
We're only three weeks into may and I think we've had 4 or 5 straight days of temps well into the 80s. :down:

On the bright side, we've also had quite a bit of rain so my lawn and flowers are exceptionally lush this spring. :up:

However, all that rain and the relatively mild winter and spring means that mosquitos are terrible already. :down:
 
Yet another day of high temps (near record breaking), storms in the afternoon, and humidity.

Must be spring in Texas.
 
Last edited:
South in Kentucky, the NWS declared a Tornado Emergency - here is NWS language:

“TORNADO EMERGENCY” terminology is appropriate for the tornadic situation if all of the following criteria are met:
a. Severe threat to human life is imminent or ongoing.
b. Catastrophic damage is imminent or ongoing.
c. Visual (1) or Radar (2):
(1) Reliable sources visually confirm tornado.
(2) Radar imagery (e.g., debris ball signature) strongly suggests the existence of a damaging tornado.
 
We've had a lot of random heavy rains so far this spring in Metro Detroit. It's been relatively warm, but also a lot of rain it seems.
 
The forecast for NW Ohio is absolutely brutal. mid to upper 90s for at least the next 10 days.. Worse, overnight lows will be in the mid 70s.

Nobody really talks about how dangerous these overnight lows can be. I remember heat waves in the past that at least had comfortable overnight lows. In 1988 for example, which had one of the hottest June's on record, several record overnight lows in the 40s were also set.

Good luck finding that today. All we will have is relentless heat. I predict that this will be one of the most miserable summers on record. And it's not even summer yet.

It's still spring, and I am already sick of summer :(
 
We've had a lot of random heavy rains so far this spring in Metro Detroit. It's been relatively warm, but also a lot of rain it seems.

My lawn and flower beds are all nice and lush this spring. We'll see how they survive this coming week of near 100º temps. (Thankfully?) It's also super humid so maybe that will help keep the lawn from drying out completely.
 
Around 9:45 last night a small but mighty storm came through. I was looking out the back windows as the wind was really picking up and there was a flash of light and a loud boom from an electrical pole behind the neighbor's house. We didn't lose any power but about a minute later there was another loud boom and a bigger flash and tons of sparks and then we lost power. Thankfully it came back on after about 40 seconds but this morning I could see there was a power line down laying across the road further up our street.

I went to the gym this morning. It's about 2 miles SE of me and the community just to the south of us had tons of really big trees down, across houses and garages, many roads blocked, etc. I saw a massive maple tree laying on somebody's Porsche.

There are enough stoplights out in the area that I didn't attempt to drive into work this morning. Seems like a good excuse to WFH.
 
Blessed relief from the heat arrived yesterday. However, that's going to disappear as the sun roars back in tomorrow. :(
 
We're getting hit by humidity. It's running 30% which is too damn high for Phoenix. Especially when we're running at 105+ today. It was worse a few days ago when we had 20% humidity and 115 degrees. The damn southern states can keep their moisture.
 
Did you see this in the news -

Maps Reveal Pollution Fallout From Ohio Train Derailment—With 16 States Hit

Far-Reaching Fallout: Tracing Toxic Trails From the Ohio Train Disaster

New NADP Findings: East Palestine Train Derailment Caused Widespread Chemical Pollution
 
We're getting hit by humidity. It's running 30% which is too damn high for Phoenix. Especially when we're running at 105+ today. It was worse a few days ago when we had 20% humidity and 115 degrees. The damn southern states can keep their moisture.
Until yesterday, it had been so warm and dry the humidity wasn't horrible. Daytime highs in the low 90's and only 80% humidity. After a morning shower, the heat went down a bit, but the air is nice and thick now.
 
I like that we started measuring temperatures in term of heat index regularly. It is much more accurate to say 115 than 103 when it feels more like the former.
 
I thank you, Mr. Carrier.

I just read a news story about how athletes from several countries will be bring their own portable AC units to the Paris OlympicsTM. Paris wants to send a climate message by not having AC readily available in athlete housing. I did ready that only 1 in 10 European households have AC. I suppose if you are used to no AC, not an issue.

Washington Post: Air-conditioned offices are commonplace in Europe, but it is exceedingly rare to find AC units in homes. According to one industry estimate, just 3 percent of homes in Germany and less than 5 percent of homes in France have air conditioning. In Britain, government estimates suggest that less than 5 percent of homes in England have AC units installed.
 
Having no AC in the house is easy when you don't live in a place that has regular temps of 115 or 90 with 100% humidity.
 
I like that we started measuring temperatures in term of heat index regularly. It is much more accurate to say 115 than 103 when it feels more like the former.
I wondered about this. I recall living in 29 Palms, CA and commenting at the time that with dry heat once it got to like 105 it didn't really matter how hot it got from there and was equally uncomfortable. Seems more uncomfortable in Michigan when it's 95 out than in 29 Palms when it was 118 out. Purely subjective, I know.
 
I wondered about this. I recall living in 29 Palms, CA and commenting at the time that with dry heat once it got to like 105 it didn't really matter how hot it got from there and was equally uncomfortable. Seems more uncomfortable in Michigan when it's 95 out than in 29 Palms when it was 118 out. Purely subjective, I know.
It's like being in Vegas when I'm out there visiting family. My sister keeps reminding us to drink water because of the dry heat. 100 plus out there isn't nearly as bad when it's in the 90s here.
 
I think the humidity makes you more uncomfortable, but the high 115 heat is more dangerous on the having heat stroke scale vs just heat exhaustion.
 
I think the humidity makes you more uncomfortable, but the high 115 heat is more dangerous on the having heat stroke scale vs just heat exhaustion.
Yes, I was a heat casualty in the Mojave Desert. Ever since then I have had to be extra careful of this very thing in the extreme heat. Fortunately, the number of 90+ degree days we have here in Michigan are relatively uncommon, but are apparently becoming less so as our climate continues to change.
 
In junior high, I worked for a summer at a camp in the piney woods area of east Texas. I don't know if it was heat exhaustion or heat stroke, but I went home and my tolerance for heat dropped drastically, mostly regarding how long I can be outside working in it before needing to stop.
 
Back
Top