Heat watch

[kenneal - lagger]

We had about 5mm from a thunder storm and subsequent drizzle a few days ago. Saved about 200 litres. Bugger all really.

[UndercoverElephant]

Our garden has exceeded 30°C today for the first time this year (30.7°C at 14:10).

A bit of context,
June-21 max 26.9°C
June-22 max 27.5°C

...and ~zero rain now for 5 weeks and counting.

Edit: I spoke too soon, max was 31.8°C.

We did have some rain a few days ago and it was enough to stabilise the water level in our lower pond. Expecting more over the weekend and should raise it a bit. Could do without another dry month though.

[kenneal - lagger]

I was planting earlier and some of our beds are still quite moist underneath. I was amazed.

[emordnilap]

We're getting a lot of thunder. We almost never see lightning unless it's off the west coast. Very little rain, just half-hour stretches of almost continual thunder.

[kenneal - lagger]

A group of us went out last night to water about fifty trees that we have planted locally on the basis that if we didn't water them we wouldn't get rain and if we did we would. We did get a really hefty downpour, not sure of the measurement yet, and our garden is wet right through now.

I will be pumping rainwater into storage shortly in case we get another drought and we are looking at installing a circular corrugated steel, 24,000 ltr water storage tank. It will be cheaper and easier than using individual IBCs all connected together as we have been doing. We can bury it half way and pile the arisings up the sides to stop it freezing, a problem with the IBCs. The valves on the IBCs freeze and break which means either losing the water or being unable to control the outlet, neither of which are helpful. The new tank will be sited near the top of our land and will give us at least a 10 metre head for watering. We will need to build a main hole for the inlet and outlet but that will be a lot easier than building a cover and access for twenty IBCs. The tank comes with a cover but I would be adding a timber reciprocal roof with a turf covering.

We have had problems in the spring with a lack of water for the last five or six years and, although this year hasn't been as bad, we have a really good crop of grass for a change, we have still had to water potatoes and onions and put a lot of water onto seedlings to get them to germinate and then take once their roots get down to the moist soil. The spuds and onions started well but soon ran out of water.

We started with our polytunnels well ventilated 24/7 but are now keeping then closed to keep the temperatures up. All the crops in them are doing well though.

[BritDownUnder]

I will be pumping rainwater into storage shortly in case we get another drought and we are looking at installing a circular corrugated steel, 24,000 ltr water storage tank.

I would be doing more than looking. I would be buying right now.

In addition, you use a lot more water for irrigation than you think. For a 6 x 3 metre greenhouse and some boundaries and raised beds I use around 500 litres per day. Your tank would probably last less than a month on what irrigation you have.

[adam2]

Parts of southern Europe are suffering a heatwave, with temperatures expected to increase further in next few days.

And in America, extreme heat is also expected, with almost one third of the population under heat warnings.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-66207430

later news report here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-66207430

[kenneal - lagger]

There is talk of the heat dome extending into western Europe and touching the UK as well in the next couple of weeks.

[Ralphw2]

To the surprise of no one, 2023 is predicted to be global hottest year on record, with nearly 4 months to go, the hottest for 125,000 years, apparently.

UK might hit 33c on Sunday. My solar panels are still producing 99% of my electricity consumption

[adam2]

The proposed 1.5 degrees limit to global warming has already been exceeded regularly, and as reported above above 2023 is expected to be the hottest year ever.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66857354

[clv101]

The proposed 1.5 degrees limit to global warming has already been exceeded regularly, and as reported above above 2023 is expected to be the hottest year ever.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66857354

No, this is not correct. Please remember that a day, week, month or even a year of +1.5°C is *not* same as IPCC, Paris Agreement's use of +1.5°C. It's likely we'll see +1.5°C in next few years & sadly inevitable that almost everyone will wrongly conflate with IPCC's +1.5°C.

[Potemkin Villager]

OK guess we are talking apples and oranges.

So how many types of apples and oranges are there out there?

Can you point to an authoritative and concise explanation of how exactly these figures are derived?

[Ralphw2]

Latest report from the UN predicts 3C rise by century end on current CO2 and methane trends, which is in the lifetime of children today (for the lucky few who get through the resulting population botleneck.)

Also, global temperature anomoly passed 2C last week for the first time.

[adam2]

Rather doomerish report from the BBC regarding the fatal consequences of of rising temperatures in Australia.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-67633892

They really need to plan better for extreme heat, painting roofs white, fitting external sunshades over windows, planting trees for shade, and related techniques.
Air conditioning is probably still required, preferably with enough PV to power it without adding to coal burning.

[BritDownUnder]

The problem with these people is that they want to live in Australia but they also want to live in a small part of Australia called Sydney. So they have to buy relatively cheap houses on the outskirts (Western Sydney has a same ring as Brixton used to when I lived in London) that are built to a budget and fitted into the land available and are so very close together.



They talk about not having a beach but a freshwater beach was built in Western Sydney recently. Due to the differences in densities (I think anyway) between freshwater and saltwater someone drowned there in the opening week.

Fully agree on the need for shading and white painted roofs. Need to be careful about trees being too close to houses due to fire risks.