Gahh, it's summer again

[Technoid]

We finally got weather that spells summer, 30c in the shade and to damn hot in the sun.

This is how I feel:

[The PIT]

Well after a none summer it's suddenly arrived. Two days 26.5c on the trot yesterday was cloudy sauna job today clear skies and much lower humidty.

Anyway the heat in my room got my graphics card crashing. Hand to crank the fan up by reflashing the bios so I could get one round of golf completed.

Gonna get rid off it flash back to non turbo speeds and sell it as a none turbo.

[Dr Mordrid]

About 75f/29c here all summer so far. Maybe 1-2 days in the 90f/32c range with several-day long dips into the 50f/10c turf.

[Jammrock]

There have been some pretty nasty heatwaves here. Hit 40 C (104 F) here one day, with a week or three of 35-38 C (95-100 F).

[Dr Mordrid]

Well, having ~20,000 cu/km of water on 3 sides might mitigate our temps a bit

[Brian Ellis]

Bloody cold here for the time of year. I would expect 40-45°C @ 10-20% RH. This past week, it's only been maxing at 34-38° @ 40-60% RH, which is damned uncomfortable. We could use a few km3 of Michigan's water though. The island has enough water until 4 August and we haven't a clue what we are going to do. Our benighted geniuses in power said that we should import water from Greece by tanker. At the moment, there are three tankers sitting in the roads off Limassol, each with 50 kt of water (sufficient to feed a town of 125,000 souls for a single day!), but they haven't thought of a way of offloading them yet. So the same geniuses have decided that they can drill into the dried-up mud of the reservoir bottoms and extract 800,000 t of water from them, but this great idea was thought up 2 days ago, and it will take them 4 weeks to collect the equipment and set it up. In the meanwhile, if you perceive a peculiar odour, it will be emanating from the unwashed inhabitants of Cyprus and should be strong enough to circumnavigate the globe. I have 10 m3 of water in reserve (sufficient for a few days) and half a room full of bottled water. Irrigation turned off (lawns a nice crispy corn-flakes brown), except for just enough to keep the fruit trees just alive but with withering leaves. The island looks like it has never looked before, like the edge of the Sahara. Drought with a capital D

Can you siphon us some, Doc?

PS I've just written a new site on our water situation, not that much different from that of 10 years ago.

[Brian Ellis]

Today's Cyprus Mail

Dwindling water supply sparks search for Plan B
By (Nassos Stylianou

AS LIMASSOL gets dangerously close to running out of water, the town’s authorities are looking at a number of back-up plans.

The Limassol Water Board has committed itself to “under no circumstances will Limassol be allowed to run dry” and emergency plans have been drawn up to combat the disastrous scenario that would arise if the long-awaited repairs on the pipe connecting the Greek water tanker to the town’s dwindling water supply fail to materialise.

The issue is close to reaching a peak as water in the Kourris dam, that supplied Limassol, is estimated to last only until August 10. This is not the only worry, the projected supply from tankers shipping water from Greece may never reach its expected levels. Concerns have been growing that even if the necessary repairs are made in time, the Greek water may never reach its targeted flow of 2,500m³ after press reports suggested that the pipe used to transport the water from the tanker to the anchorage is faulty.

The House Watchdog Committee will meet tomorrow to examine the provisions of the contract signed with Ocean Tankers for transporting the water and to be briefed by the Agriculture Minister and the Water Development Board.

With just two weeks of water left, the fiasco over the transport of water from Greece has jumped from one embarrassment to another. More than three weeks ago, the first tanker arrived off Limassol amid great fanfare, only for dismayed officials to realise that a 3.5m miscalculation regarding the final section of an undersea pipeline meant that the water could not be offloaded until the necessary extension was constructed. By the time they had extended it, more than two weeks later, the quality of the water was no longer deemed suitable for consumption. This week, the pipe linking the water tanker and the shore was experiencing further problems, with the earliest date that water would reach Limassol now set for tomorrow. Questions over the overall quality of the pipe and the suitability of the water in the second tanker, now languishing off the coast of Limassol, are also being asked.

Earlier this week, the Limassol Water Board called for an emergency meeting with the Agriculture Minister to discuss a plan B for the town’s depleted water reserves. The possible alternatives that emerged yesterday are:

l Despite earlier claims by the Water Development Board that the possibility of water cuts was not being looked at, the supply of water to the town could be further reduced by 2,000m³ a day.

l The prospect of using the 700,000 to 800,000 cubic metres of the strategic reserves of the Kourris dam.

l Transferring the last 500,000 cubic metres of water currently located at the Arminou dam to the Kourris dam.

l Underground water reserves were located below the Yermasoyia dam and could also be used to pump water to the town. Estimates suggest that the underground water reserves can supply Limassol for a few more weeks.

l Water that is produced from the Larnaca and Dhekelia desalination plants could be taken to the Kourris dam, however this prospect is not straightforward and looks unlikely.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

[DukeP]

Hrmf.

Its HOT. VERY hot.

And Im laying roof.

Yes, dragging ceramic tiles unto a slanted roof facing the sun was never funnier.

Pff.

~~DukeP~~

[gt40]

we are extremely WET this year. Daytime temps fluctuate from 20-35C, heavy rain every few days.
Seems we stole all your water, Brian.

[Dr Mordrid]

Don't know about the rest of you guys but our growing season has been insane so far.

We've already harvested green beans and yellow beans (bush varieties), swiss chard, lettuce, broccoli & sweet corn (YUM!!!) and have taken zucchini's and yellow squash out that are 4+" across and about 16-18" long in huge numbers, and they are still flowering. Some of our Waltham butternut squash vines are even trying to climb our oaks

We're gonna be up to our asses in veggies by the time the first frost hits in November and yes, we're canning stuff as fast as we can reload the pressure cookers. Thing is this is a small garden, but we are using early varieties and will probably get at least 2 plantings, and 3 of many crops.

[rylan]

Been pretty crazy weather pattern here this summer. Not particularly hot, however we've been getting a LOT of severe thunderstorms with insane downpours... I mean where you can't see across a small parking lot from it raining so hard. Seems that the frontal boundary stalls across the northeast for a week at a time and we get weather like the midwest when a strong front comes through.

[cjolley]

Drove from Dallas back to OKC today.
102f/38.8c the whole way.
The Civic Hybrid has good AC


I was going to do some work on the Lexus when I got back, but I changed my mind

[Dr Mordrid]

Our main conveyance is a Dodge Grand Caravan v-6 flex-fuel and it's A/C is over sized as Dodges usually are; more so when set to recirculate. Love that thing.

[Brian Ellis]

The Civic Hybrid has good AC

I second that. Of course, it's electric and runs off the drive battery, so that it doesn't charge as high as when it's cooler. See http://www.cypenv.org/hybrid/files/c...nsumaircon.htm for my experience with it under extreme conditions and its effect on consumption.

[az]

I don't like the effect the temps have on me, but I like the effect they have on female clothing