Talking about the weather
23/08/25 03:34
I went for an early bike ride yesterday morning. After riding a few blocks from our home, I began to wonder if I should turn around and go back for a sweatshirt. I also contemplated stopping and putting on a helmet liner that I had with me and switching to full gloves in place of the fingerless ones I was wearing. According to my watch, which displays the temperature, it was 60 degrees. I decided I wasn’t all that cold and continued my ride. I checked the temperature along the way and noted that it ranged from 57 to 61 degrees. That isn’t particularly cold, and I was warm after I had ridden a bit. The physical exertion of riding the bike kept me warm.
It was, however, a taste of things to come. It isn’t accurate to say that fall is in the air, but it was a slight shift from the way it has been.
Nonetheless, the news is that we are under a heat dome. It isn’t very dramatic. The high temperature yesterday was 82. The forecast high for today will be 87. Sunday is also supposed to be warm with a high of 86. Overnight lows will be in the high 50s. Weather forecasters say that some inland locations may reach above 100 degrees. More notable than the temperature is that it has been dry here, with very little rain.
The weather here is mild. We don’t see the kinds of temperature extremes that we experienced in other places where we have lived. It has been three years since the temperature topped 90 degrees. Back in June of 2021, there were three days of temperatures in the upper 90s. That heat dome was blamed for the death of a woman in Bellingham.
We also don’t see the cold temperatures that have been common in other places where we have lived. It gets below freezing in the winter, but we haven’t experienced any temperatures below zero in the five years we’ve lived in the area. The first winter we lived in this house, there were several days with lows in the teens, and as a result, most houses experienced some frozen pipes.
The problem isn’t extreme weather where we live. The people who live here aren’t set up to deal with the weather we have. Like the rest of the world, we are experiencing unusual weather events. Global climate change will continue to yield some days that are hotter, colder, wetter, and drier than previous extremes. We will likely set some new records. There is nothing new in that, either. Every other location where we have lived experienced both record highs and lows during our time there.
We lived in southwestern North Dakota, where we experienced temperatures colder than 30 degrees below zero and hotter than 100 degrees, and annual rainfall between 13 and 20 inches a year. We saw some individual rainstorms that brought more than an inch of rain, but also experienced 5 months with no significant precipitation. Each time the weather was extreme, the locals always assured us that it was unusual. We joked that whatever the weather, the locals would say, “It usually isn’t like this.”
My father-in-law used to comment, “It’s a good thing we have weather. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about.” However, he also knew that it was important to talk about the weather. Farmers and ranchers are dependent upon the weather for their livelihood. An extended drought can lead to crop failures, stress animals, and result in decreased feed. Extreme blizzards can result in the death of livestock. Weather is serious business.
Most of the world will see more temperature extremes as a result of global warming. There are already climate refugees in the world who have been forced to leave their homes by drought and extreme temperatures. We have met some new residents of our town who moved in part due to the high temperatures they experienced in Texas and Arizona. We expect to see more climate refugees in our area in the years to come.
Two of the three parishes we served in our careers as pastors added air conditioning to the church buildings during our tenure. Before those times, air conditioning was not needed. We learned to open windows at night, to use fans to circulate air, and other techniques to make the buildings comfortable for worshipers. The church we belong to here does not have air conditioning, but there has been talk of installing it. The conversation is familiar to us. More and more public buildings are having air conditioning installed. There is a need in communities to have shelters in case of extreme heat events. Because our church has a basement under the entire building, it could serve as a heat shelter even without air conditioning.
We will continue to talk about the weather even though we live in a place where the weather is mild and extreme weather events are uncommon.
Meanwhile, I have sweatshirts for cool mornings and ceiling fans for warm evenings. I’m not suffering. And although I enjoy rural living and generally avoid crowds, I know that we will need to share our mild climate with others in the years to come.
It was, however, a taste of things to come. It isn’t accurate to say that fall is in the air, but it was a slight shift from the way it has been.
Nonetheless, the news is that we are under a heat dome. It isn’t very dramatic. The high temperature yesterday was 82. The forecast high for today will be 87. Sunday is also supposed to be warm with a high of 86. Overnight lows will be in the high 50s. Weather forecasters say that some inland locations may reach above 100 degrees. More notable than the temperature is that it has been dry here, with very little rain.
The weather here is mild. We don’t see the kinds of temperature extremes that we experienced in other places where we have lived. It has been three years since the temperature topped 90 degrees. Back in June of 2021, there were three days of temperatures in the upper 90s. That heat dome was blamed for the death of a woman in Bellingham.
We also don’t see the cold temperatures that have been common in other places where we have lived. It gets below freezing in the winter, but we haven’t experienced any temperatures below zero in the five years we’ve lived in the area. The first winter we lived in this house, there were several days with lows in the teens, and as a result, most houses experienced some frozen pipes.
The problem isn’t extreme weather where we live. The people who live here aren’t set up to deal with the weather we have. Like the rest of the world, we are experiencing unusual weather events. Global climate change will continue to yield some days that are hotter, colder, wetter, and drier than previous extremes. We will likely set some new records. There is nothing new in that, either. Every other location where we have lived experienced both record highs and lows during our time there.
We lived in southwestern North Dakota, where we experienced temperatures colder than 30 degrees below zero and hotter than 100 degrees, and annual rainfall between 13 and 20 inches a year. We saw some individual rainstorms that brought more than an inch of rain, but also experienced 5 months with no significant precipitation. Each time the weather was extreme, the locals always assured us that it was unusual. We joked that whatever the weather, the locals would say, “It usually isn’t like this.”
My father-in-law used to comment, “It’s a good thing we have weather. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about.” However, he also knew that it was important to talk about the weather. Farmers and ranchers are dependent upon the weather for their livelihood. An extended drought can lead to crop failures, stress animals, and result in decreased feed. Extreme blizzards can result in the death of livestock. Weather is serious business.
Most of the world will see more temperature extremes as a result of global warming. There are already climate refugees in the world who have been forced to leave their homes by drought and extreme temperatures. We have met some new residents of our town who moved in part due to the high temperatures they experienced in Texas and Arizona. We expect to see more climate refugees in our area in the years to come.
Two of the three parishes we served in our careers as pastors added air conditioning to the church buildings during our tenure. Before those times, air conditioning was not needed. We learned to open windows at night, to use fans to circulate air, and other techniques to make the buildings comfortable for worshipers. The church we belong to here does not have air conditioning, but there has been talk of installing it. The conversation is familiar to us. More and more public buildings are having air conditioning installed. There is a need in communities to have shelters in case of extreme heat events. Because our church has a basement under the entire building, it could serve as a heat shelter even without air conditioning.
We will continue to talk about the weather even though we live in a place where the weather is mild and extreme weather events are uncommon.
Meanwhile, I have sweatshirts for cool mornings and ceiling fans for warm evenings. I’m not suffering. And although I enjoy rural living and generally avoid crowds, I know that we will need to share our mild climate with others in the years to come.
