Re: Nuclear Energy

Ann wrote:

Jim Ledford wrote:
Ann wrote:
Jim Ledford wrote:
<...>
today we got a break from the heat wave. topped out at high of only
87F. now we need a touch of rain.

Getting dry here too. I'm on a hill and the rain in the last couple
weeks has been the kind that follows the valleys rather than
overspreading the area.

I watched a science fiction movie sometime ago about killer hurricanes
and they used the term 'thermal towers' to describe the heat rising from
large cities and how these 'thermal towers' were like magnets to the
killer storms. the hero scientist in the movie saved the day buy
turning off all the electricity stopping the generation of heat in the
city and saving the city just in the nick of time.

Afaik, the theory (updrafts and all that good stuff) behind it is
basically correct, but cities are such big old heat sinks that turning off
the electricity wouldn't do it. The bad part of being in a city during a
heat wave is that it doesn't get that much cooler at night.

it's a kin to placing bricks in the campfire and then later taking
the bricks into the tent for some warmth while winter camping. all
that city concrete heats up, holds the heat and by daybreak the
concrete is still warmer than the ambient air temp.


anyhow, last year
during our drought what rain we did get always went to Raleigh and
watered the concrete and the street lights. Ann, with your
understanding of how Jim feels about concrete and street lights you can
imagine how I wanted to turn off all the electricity in Raleigh cooling
their 'thermal tower' and then having the rain move 17 miles to the east
where my farm needed water really really bad. but it was a science
fiction movie and only something to ponder while I watched it rain on
the city concrete. grrrrrrrr...

Somewhat similar situation here. There is a N/S highway being converted
to an interstate about 5 miles west of my location; lots of new blacktop,
many trees cut, Walmat and other stores at an interchange, etc. Used to
be that when there was a normal W->E cold front coming through, I could
count on getting rain about 15 minutes after the county seat, which is
west of the (then) two-lane. That's not true anymore.

mowing the forest down as in complete clear cutting has some very
detrimental effects on the weather. city people I've debated the
issue with will adamantly stomp their foot and unyieldingly say no
it don't, cutting those trees gives us more places to develop thus
providing jobs and important places of commerce for people. they
see the making of money as more important than the balance of
natural areas.

Raleigh has recently acquired a 124 acre farm to be placed
under the care and management of the parks and recreation
services. vocal persons have stated they would prefer the
land be left in it's natural state with no development of
any kind. the city council seems annoyed at how there is
opposition to their plans for the large indoor basketball
court with large indoor tennis courts and a large black top
parking area next to the large indoor swimming pool. the
old crop fields would be used to make the soccer fields which
means lots of trees would be cut to make room for the indoor
stuff. it's almost as if the city council is saying, we got
money, we taxed you, we took the money from you and now we're
going to spend it.



back when you were writing about "Real deal" temperature?!? I was
saying YEP the local news people love adding in that heat index so
they can say 112F instead of the 97F it really was. again more
attempts by the news media to be sensational so they can arouse a
quick intense and usually unnecessary emotional response from our
newcomers who are not yet accustom to summer weather in the South.

How much does it cool down at night where you are?

http://www.wral.com/weather/index.html

that's the URL to the local weather page I most often look at. the live
doppler is useful. the little write ups they do under the top header of
'Detailed Forecast" can sometimes be very very funny and a good source
of entertainment. the hurricane tracker is fun to play with. the '5
Day Forecast' can give you a good idea for a direct answer to your
question.

I was wondering about on your farm.

blessed I am. still have large forest with thick overhead canopy.
there can be as much as a 10 degree differential during the hottest
part of the day between being in the forest and out in a field.
there is a spot on this land that is always cooler than the rest of
the farm and I think it has to do with the natural springs pushing
cool water up and forming the creek. the spot is also under the
canopy of the forest.

since the nearest massive amounts of concrete and blacktop holding
the heat from the sun are going to be in Raleigh and that's still
about 16 or 17 miles to the west of me, then after the sun goes down
you can feel the air begin to cool off. however, during that recent
heat wave, one night, it was still 82F at 11:30pm and humid.


have you got a local weather page URL to share?

No, I don't. I use Intellicast.

google has a weather tool allowing for the selection of
most any city in the US. handy for travel.
.

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