Image: Snow on the Mountain"A measure of continuous discomfort and a health risk to all occurs when nighttime temperatures fail to fall below 70°. Examining Newark Airport lows in July as an example of an urban heat island environment, lows remained at 70° or higher on 23 nights."
--from State Climatologist David Robinson's July summary
For apartment dwellers without air conditioning, it was more like 85 or 90 degrees indoors at night for most of July.
Dr. Robinson's report includes an overview of the 2010 growing season. Most of it is technical, but it definitely quantifies what our Central Jersey hellish summer was like.
Meanwhile, some musings on the weather:
- We used to have a Plainfield weather observer whose findings were printed in the Courier News each day. I remember having to call Vivian Scherer as one of the daily newsroom chores and being somewhat in awe of her as a most faithful volunteer for this duty. Nowadays, readings come from the Rutgers Meteorology Department at Cook College in New Brunswick.
- I bought some Snow on the Mountain seeds this year just to see its cool white-and-green display in the heat of summer. An urban nostrum for summer heat seems to be a wet washcloth on the head while out on the street.
- As a self-declared "pagan" who follows the Wheel of the Year, I can't hardly complain about the heat. August 1, Lammas, is a pagan holiday celebrating the early harvest, which of course would not come about without the summer heat.
Anyway, July is over and soon we will have brisk fall days to energize us.
--Bernice
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