When are the tipping points?

It’s hard to believe that only four months ago our back yard was snow covered. Today we are, again, under an “Excessive Heat Warning” until 10 pm tomorrow. The actual temperature is 95℉. The humidity makes it feel like 105℉. Normal high temperature for this date is 80℉. The earliest snowfall in our area was September 24, 1985. It will be interesting to see how much things cool off over the next month, but I’m not getting my hopes up. In fact, I fully expect next winter, when it arrives, to be colder and snowier than “normal” to compensate for this summer’s weather. That way, on an annual average basis, our extremes won’t look as anomalous.

back yard: April 22, 2023

Photo by J. Harrington

I’m just hoping the weather and the water temperatures moderate enough that I can go fly fishing on a trout stream without triggering a guilty conscience. (Releasing a stressed fish into water temps at the upper limits of its tolerance invites mortality.) Maybe next week I at least need to go for a ride and check water temperatures for myself. Perhaps by then I’ll have overcome my heat and humidity induced lethargy.

Male hummingbirds are still coming to the feeders. Sandhill cranes are beginning to flock up. Sandhill colts are nearly grown. Summer won’t last forever and in six months I’ll be complaining about cold and snow that seems never ending.

Heat

H.D.     1886 – 1961

O wind, rend open the heat,
cut apart the heat,
rend it to tatters.

Fruit cannot drop
through this thick air—
fruit cannot fall into heat
that presses up and blunts
the points of pears
and rounds the grapes.

Cut the heat—
plough through it,
turning it on either side
of your path.

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