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SPUCK Saturday Jun 29 04:48 AM |
June 29, 2013 - DEATH Valley
Sundae Saturday Jun 29 06:40 AM Heard this on the radio this morning. glatt Saturday Jun 29 09:06 AM Driving a VW bus without AC through Death Valley, I discovered that if you soak a towel and close it in the car door so it covers the open window, as the hot dry air blows through it, it cools off noticeably. But the towel will be dry in ten minutes so you have to soak it again. It works well, but uses too much water. ZenGum Saturday Jun 29 09:16 AM [shudders] CaliforniaMama Saturday Jun 29 06:15 PM Quote:
Today, around 1 pm, it was on the 100 mark. I went across the street to the public pool and did my exercise. I couldn't touch the handrail next to the pool stairs because it was too hot. It was tempting to just hunch down in the cool water and nap, but my head was still too hot and I got tired of the sweat dripping into my eyes . . . Anyway, Sundae Death Valley is still here and you can still fly over and drive through. If you come stay with me, it would be about an 8 1/2 hour drive to get there, but you could do it in a weekend. See: My Death Valley traverse was in an old van, no AC, with the engine cover in the van in between the driver's and passenger's seats. Even when the weather was cold that engine cover was so hot that you could almost get burned touching it. So, we've got the hot air outside and the engine cover blasting heat on the inside. It was difficult to tell which was hotter. ZenGum Saturday Jun 29 08:57 PM For added fun, if you are driving in extreme temperatures and the engine starts overheating, there is one way to dump extra heat. Degrees Saturday Jun 29 09:32 PM FWIW For what it's worth, my little brother works at Furnace Creek as a porter. Mostly, his job is driving a van between the hotel and a nearby airport. I sure hope that van is in good condition. If not, well he does carry a radio to let dispatch know how far out he is from his next destination. SPUCK Monday Jul 1 06:45 AM
blueboy56 Monday Jul 1 12:27 PM A serious question (for a change): Is there a physical limit as to how hot it can get on Earth's surface? Is there something that prevents the temperature from going above the high 120's? footfootfoot Monday Jul 1 01:35 PM Furnace Creek. The clue is in the name. (At least it's a dry furnace...) CaliforniaMama Monday Jul 1 06:41 PM My grandparents had a VW bus and I remember they would use chunks of ice in a bucket and have a fan blowing across it to cool the air. Undertoad Monday Jul 1 07:14 PM Atmospheric conditions prevent it from being too hot or cold; it's just the energy of the Sun spread out over the earth, and how much is retained by the atmosphere. footfootfoot Monday Jul 1 07:23 PM I will remember that this fall when I am freezing my ass off in my tree stand. SPUCK Tuesday Jul 2 06:56 AM Quote:
Yes. But it's hard to put a finger on exactly what that would be. Once the air gets so hot in one little area that air becomes lighter than the surrounding air. Hence it will rise. Cooler surrounding air is going to come in to replace that air. So that limits the maximum. Furnace Creek is kinda special. The actual super hot spot there is associated with the local terrain. There is an area that is, I don't know, 40 acres? That the natural soil is damn near black. Like a Costco parking lot from hell. The central spot there gets super heated due to the dark ground. Then because the area is so large 1) there isn't much differential so not a lot of air density difference between the hot stuff and the neighboring hot stuff. Not much air rises. Then 2) what does rise is replaced by super heated neighboring air from the identical acre next door. if you see what I mean. Look at Google maps and you'll see what I mean. Look at the satellite view of course. You'll also see the airport and hotel Degrees mentioned - where his brother is probably laying on the asphalt sizzling like bacon. Degrees Tuesday Jul 2 09:54 AM My brother is probably just trying to find a way to keep the bottoms of his sneakers from melting. BigV Tuesday Jul 2 12:06 PM A few years ago we hiked to Dusty Lake. It was hot (not furnace creek hot, but eastern washington hot, hot enough) and on the trip through the desert on the way to the lake, the heat melted the adhesive on my friend's boot between the upper and the sole. He limped into camp with the floppy sole duct taped to his boot. I've checked, lots of pics, none of the boot. Damn hot though. jimhelm Tuesday Jul 2 01:39 PM hottest temperature was recorded at Furnace Creek CaliforniaMama Tuesday Jul 2 04:12 PM Quote:
It was in the middle of nowhere and all you could see for miles around was slightly rolling hills of brown earth. It was so hot and had that furnace feel. No a/c or any way to get relief from the heat. The thermometer went up to 130 degrees and it was red all the way up, so no telling how hot it really was. I was suffering from heat exhaustion without knowing it and all I did was lay in our one bed trailer (silver bullet kind for the three of us) with a cold wash cloth on my head and I know the trailer was even hotter than it was outside. No one even realized I was sick. Sometimes I have to shake my head with wonder at how I have survived so far. Sheer dumb luck! Unlike all the chickens that huddled together to protect themselves from the heat. They didn't last too long. SPUCK Wednesday Jul 3 07:01 AM You probably should've been laying under that trailer. Course.. that's likely where every rattlesnake in a 200 yard radius were hiding from the sun. But if you laid still they'd probably share it with you. glatt Monday Jul 8 03:41 PM Quote:
SPUCK Wednesday Jul 10 06:28 AM Sidewalks don't work.. They're white! Griff Wednesday Jul 10 04:24 PM That's racist! SPUCK Thursday Jul 11 06:44 AM
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