Hot Damn!

mom of 10 cats

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PHOENIX — It's so hot windshields are shattering or falling out, dogs are burning their paws on the pavement, and candles are melting indoors.

People who live in the Valley of the Sun don't usually sweat the summer heat. But this July is off the charts.

With the average high for the first three weeks of the month at 110 degrees, Phoenix is on track to have the hottest July since the National Weather Service started keeping records in 1896. The average July high is 104.

"Being in this heat is like walking through the hot lamps they use to bake on a car's paint," said Roger Janusz, who was walking laps inside a mall instead of outdoors Thursday morning.

The low temperature on July 15 was 96 degrees, a record for the date. The high on July 16 was 117, making it the hottest day so far this year.

It's so hot that heat waves are creating turbulence for airplanes overhead, said Sky Harbor International Airport spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher.

The searing pavement is burning the pads on dogs' feet and causing the animals to suffer heat stroke. Susan Prosse, hospital manager at University Animal Hospital, said when the pavement burns dogs' pads, they start dancing around. Some pet owners put booties on their dogs for their protection.

Floral designer Brenda Zamora said her bouquets are dying in the delivery trucks en route to their destinations. "This heat is not good for people, pets, flowers — anything," she said.

It is especially hard on the sick and elderly.

Dr. Donald Lauer of Phoenix has seen an increase in people with heat-related ailments this July. He said recently that when the air conditioning broke in an elderly woman's motor home, she suffered heat stroke, passed out and swerved off the road. She was not seriously hurt.

"Very few points of the human body are designed to function at 107 and 108," Lauer said.

Cars don't handle the heat well, either.

Terry Tapp, owner of an upholstery repair shop, said some windshields shatter when the heat causes them to expand. Others fall out when the glue holding them in place separates. The heat is also cracking and peeling dashboards.

"But the funniest thing you see with this heat is that you get the grumpiest people who come in that you have ever seen," Tapp said. "They have no tolerance for anything."

Leslie Wanek, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the above-normal temperatures are due to a strong high-pressure system over the western United States, a late start to the usual summer rains and the heat-retaining effects of asphalt and concrete in this fast-growing metropolis of about 3 million.

Many people who are not boating or swimming are just staying indoors.

Josh Acton has no air conditioning, but he finally bought four fans after it got so hot in his house that candles melted.

About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts.

On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside the week before. Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their pink socks.

"It feels like you are in a furnace," said James Zanzo't, an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 1/2 years. "It's inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, is not sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told the inmates: "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths."

Sherman Reeves, a postal worker, set up a misting system — similar to the ones in the produce sections of grocery stores — in his delivery truck, which he said heats up like an oven. "You can feel yourself baking," he said.

John Augustyn switches the temperature reading on his office computer to Celsius. "It's all a matter of being able to adjust your mind," he said.
 

uabassoon

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This is the reason why I don't leave my house during the house of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.! And I'm so thankful utilities are included in my rent and I can have my AC going at full speed.
 
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mom of 10 cats

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I can imagine how bad it is. When I was in Cancun about 10 yrs ago, I went on a day trip to Chichen Itza, which is in the jungle. It was 120 degrees that day! I bought water 2 liters at a time, one to drink, and the other to pour over the top of my head. I was in shorts and a bikini top (I was much thinner then LOL) and it was still too hot. I wanted to unzip my skin and step out of it!
 

uabassoon

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I also gain around 10 lbs every summer because it's so hot and I don't excercise. The rest of the year I go to the park three times a week and walk 3 miles, but in the summer it's to hot to go. And sadly the park just isn't safe a night
 

lau77

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I dont know how you do it that is crazy i cant take it when it is 90 degrees. I cant amagine it to be 117.
 

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I grew up in Tucson and remember that oven-baked feeling all too well - our car didn't have a/c, either. Ugh.


But I still prefer that to this horrible South Texas humid heat that just makes you melt into a puddle of sweat.
Thankfully my new car has a/c...the old one didn't - took a digital thermometer in the car one day just for grins...140 degrees farenheit in the car, sitting in traffic. Double-ugh.


Like the point about the soldiers! Too true! Those prisoners should be thankful chain gangs are no longer used.
 

katl8e

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Tucson has been a relatively balmy 101, most of the week. Since we're in the rainy season, the humidity has been nasty, though. The rains hit at about 7 or 8 pm and its really nice on the patio, then.

We have an evaporative cooler and ceiling fans throughout the house, both vehicles are air conditioned and so is my office.

I make Bill wait until evening, to scoop the doggie-doo and our yard requires no other maintenance. He has to work outside, all week long and its starting to get to him. A big jug of water and lots of Gatorade go with him, each day.
 

tuxedokitties

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Poor Bill! Definitely tank up on that Gatorade.

Have you seen this website before? I ran across it looking for a canine cooler mat for my dog. I've never ordered from them, but it looks like they have some neat stuff.
www.heatreliefdepot.com
 

kimward34

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Originally posted by Mom of 10 Cats
......Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, is not sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told the inmates: "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths."[/b]
I saw a documentary about this sheriff - I think he's hilarious! He makes a good point about our soldiers in Iraq, too! LOL!!

 

katl8e

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Joe knows that the word "penal" means "punishment". Any time that he wants to run for governor, he's got my vote!
 

katl8e

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Just remember - next January, when all of you Backeasters and Upnorthers are chin-deep in snow, freezing off vital parts of your anatomy, I'll be sitting on my patio in shirt sleeves, sipping on an ice-cold soda, feeling smug.
 

dtolle

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Damn, that is hot! I'm glad its only in the 80's where I live!
 
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mom of 10 cats

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I know that now when I complain about the miserable, hot, humid Philly summers, at least I can rest assured that HERE no one's windshields are exploding from the heat! So I guess it's not all that bad!
 

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I've had family out in Arizona (mostly Tucson) since before I was born. I've spent a LOT of time out there, including the wonderful summer monsoon seasons. The worst that I've experienced is 112 degrees - man that was hot. I can't image having worse than that for a longer period of time at all.

But then again, If I could find a decent job out there, I'd move tomorrow, and laugh at all the folks shoveling snow and scraping ice off their windshields. I've had too many winters of that mess!
 

uabassoon

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I think I would like to try living in cold weather, even if it were just for a little while. I've never even seen snow before, I lived in South Texas for most of my life then moved to Az for school. I think it would be interesting to live someplace cold.
 
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