A Nasty Summer Mix Ahead by Bob Henson

Heat, Ozone, and Dust: A Nasty Summer Mix Ahead by Bob Henson

"This week’s heat wave will be accompanied by light winds, which will allow air pollution levels to build, bringing the worst ozone air pollution thus far this year to much of the Midwest and Northeast United States. Ground-level ozone, which is created from chemical reactions between volatile organic carbon (VOC) compounds and nitrogen oxides, is created more readily at warmer temperatures. Extreme heat helps these chemical reactions occur faster, and we can expect to see many areas with ozone pollution topping out in the β€œUnhealthy” range during the heat wave. At this level of pollution, people who are sensitive to air pollution can see increased risk of stroke, heart attack and breathing problems, and even healthy people may experience discomfort."

"An air pollution episode as widespread and severe as the one this week is a threat to cause hundreds of premature deaths. According to a 2018 study done by the Health Effects Institute (a U.S. non-profit corporation funded by the EPA and the auto industry), ozone pollution in the U.S. caused approximately 12,000 premature deaths per year between 2010 and 2016. Air pollution deaths are calculated using epidemiological studies, which correlate death rates with air pollution levels. Air pollution has been proven to increase the incidence of death due to stroke, heart attack and lung disease. Since these causes of death are also due to other factorsβ€”such as lifestyle and family historyβ€”we typically refer to air pollution deaths as premature deaths. A premature air pollution-related death typically occurs about twelve years earlier than it otherwise might have, according to Caiazzo et al., 2013."

June 26, 2018 Morning

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Sunny and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 46 degrees. Another really nice day on tap before the rain and then heat and humidity start baking the region. I’m just glad we are getting a good rain fall Wednesday into Thursday. Seven weeks until the Altamont Fair opens.

No federal primary locally because everybody likes the man from Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam who lives on the second floor of his parents house. 🏠 So economical! I also really like Paul Tonko, he will be missed when he retires eventually.

Today will be sunny 🌞 , with a high of 78 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 49 at 6pm. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 74 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1952.

The sun will set at 8:37 pm with dusk around 9:12 pm, which is 2 seconds later than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At sunset, look for mostly clear skies and71 degrees. The dew point will be 52 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 17 minutes of daytime, an increase of 22 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy ☁, with a low of 59 degrees at 4am. One degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 55 at 6am. South wind around 7 mph. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1970.

On this day in 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, πŸ‘¦underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall. Also, The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time in 1974 to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum 🍬at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. Now it’s hard imagine a time without self checkouts. They are great at Walmart, making the experience much better except when you are buying beer, ammunition or fireworks.

Today I’m going to ask for the days off assuming I can get coverage, and the necessary work done. β›ΊI have so much comp time from working the long days so I should use it before it’s gone. It should be nice up north, in the potholers, and lighting off fireworks, well at least ground ones that are legal in New York, of course.

I am going to probably head up early on Friday morning rather then Thursday, just because it’s going to be wet on Thursday evening, and this will save 12 hours of ice, and I won’t be fighting the holiday traffic on the way up there. 🏊On the other hand, four nights would be fun to camp, but I would need to move the campsite at least once to comply with the maximum of three nights per site without a permit. If I do that, I would probably go home first, then drive up late. Maybe get a site close to the entrance, then move my truck early on Friday morning.Β That way I’m not in any one campsite more then three nights.

I decided against buying drain solvent yesterday at lunch because I πŸ›€didn’t want to walk a half mile back to work and then take it back home on the bus, lest it leak and I spill it on my hands.πŸ‘ The sink drain is draining slowly and I’ll get the lye when I go shopping for camping.

Today is pay day, which is good because I live almost pay check to paycheck, as I like to invest as much as possible in the markets and savings rather than store it in a bank account that gets almost no interest. πŸ’° Rent is going up in August, and while I don’t expect the weekend camping trip to be that expensive it will still cost money and I don’t have that much extra floating around. Solar panel and leaving the truck parked while camping does help a fair amount though although u expect with the heat I’ll have to drive down to Dodgeville to get ICE mid weekend to make sure that the food remains COLD. 😱

I have the new boots,Β but so far I haven’t opened them up.Β πŸ‘’Β The old ones are fine for now, at some point those they will crack. The leather is fine it’s just the soles are really falling apart. Yesterday they were wet, which was bad as it made my feet stinkΒ πŸ‘£Β and get a bit sore but they dried out overnight. I put lots of food powder in them today. I will probably wear them while camping, especially getting in and out of the potholers, so I don’t destroy them.

Looking ahead, there are 13 weeks until More Night then Day 🌌 when the sun will be setting at 6:46 pm with dusk at 7:14 pm. On that day in 2017, we had shallow fog, patches of fog, mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 91 and 64 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 68 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 2017.