melting

We're experiencing a heat wave here. It's supposed to be short lived, but it's far from the "75 degrees year round" I was promised upon moving here.

Yesterday's weather:
Actuals: 84 | 46
Averages: 70 | 48
Records: 86 | 39

Do you see that? I mean, really look at it. We had nearly a 40 degree night/day difference in temperatures yesterday. Right now weather.com tells me it's 90, and DS says Google is telling him its ~100. There's no breeze. My ceiling fans feel like the hot air blowing out of a furnace. I have no a/c. Hell, I barely have heat. This crazy weather is supposed to be gone in the next day or so, but it makes me very fearful of the summer. Could it be that they lied to us? Is it really not perfect all year? Will I regret not getting a place with a/c? I'm very fragile when it comes to heat. Put me in -20 with proper clothing (which I have), and I'm all good. Happy as a clam. Put me in anything over 75, and I'm crying. Sometimes even physically ill. I'm like a reverse lizard. or something.

One of the things I find incredibly funny about the weather here though, is how differently its covered by weather.com. This heatwave has had several severe weather alerts on weather.com. It's not just that the heat is odd for the season. Santa Barbara's weather alerts are highly detailed. They actually sound like a human wrote them, and cares. Every other place I've lived had weather alerts written in all caps that basically told you hail was coming, or some other very vague description of the forecast you already knew about. Here, we get like a 3 page dissertation on the potential of 1 inch of rain.

Example:

Issued by The National Weather Service
Los Angeles, CA
4:24 am PDT, Mon., Apr. 20, 2009

... UNSEASONABLY HOT WEATHER EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA THROUGH TUESDAY WITH POTENTIAL RECORD HEAT...

A STRONG UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE COMBINED WITH OFFSHORE FLOW NEAR THE SURFACE WILL CONTINUE TO BRING THE THREAT OF RECORD HEAT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA THROUGH TUESDAY.

OFFSHORE WINDS BROUGHT SIGNIFICANT WARMING TO MOST OF THE REGION SUNDAY... WITH MANY COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS SOARING WELL INTO THE 90S. TODAY... TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY BE A FEW DEGREES WARMER IN MOST INLAND LOCATIONS. IN FACT... SOME OF THE WARMEST VALLEY LOCATIONS COULD REACH 100 DEGREES. LOW TEMPERATURES ACROSS MANY FOOTHILL AND LOWER MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS WILL BE QUITE WARM TONIGHT... WITH READINGS REMAINING WELL INTO THE 70S THROUGH THE NIGHT.

WHILE SOME COOLING IS EXPECTED ON TUESDAY... IT LIKELY WILL BE CONFINED TO THE COASTAL PLAIN. MOST LOCATIONS INLAND WILL CLIMB WELL INTO THE 90S AGAIN. THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF A FEW MORE HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS BEING BROKEN ACROSS INTERIOR AREAS ON TUESDAY.

MORE SIGNIFICANT AND WIDESPREAD COOLING IS LIKELY ACROSS THE ENTIRE REGION WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AS OFFSHORE FLOW TURNS ONSHORE AND A MARINE LAYER DEVELOPS.

PEOPLE PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES SHOULD TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE EARLY SEASON HEAT. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT... LIGHT COLORED AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING. STAY HYDRATED BY DRINKING PLENTY OF NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS... ESPECIALLY WATER. TRY TO AVOID STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES DURING THE LATE MORNING THROUGH EARLY EVENING HOURS.

NEVER... EVER LEAVE CHILDREN... THE ELDERLY OR PETS IN ENCLOSED AUTOMOBILES... EVEN FOR VERY SHORT TIMES. TEMPERATURES QUICKLY RISE TO DEADLY LEVELS... EVEN IF THE WINDOWS ARE PARTIALLY OPEN.

I believe that is one of the shorter ones.

Anyway, if you're not cursing me for having "awesome weather", as I'm sure some of you are, then wish me a little cool weather. Or an a/c unit. Either way.