Sweat There, Not Here

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I’m almost scared to write about the weather. No one wants me to rub in the weather change moving brought. We left Connecticut at the start of a brutal summer. There have been more tornadoes and thunderstorms in Southern New England than I remember from summer’s past. It is sweaty as a Turkish prison!

The map at the top of this entry (courtesy: http://weather.unisys.com/) shows current dew point temperatures. Dew point is an absolute measure of atmospheric moisture and a better indicator of humidity’s effect than relative humidity itself!

That’s it in a nutshell. All the sweaty stuff is east of the Rockies. That’s not unusual. It’s that the way every summer.

namerica.cf

It all has to do with water temperature and the influence of the ocean. The water off the East Coast is warmer than water off the West Coast. Oceanic circulation brings here brings cool water down from Alaska. The Gulf Stream does the opposite in the east.

Even mid-summer, beach water here never warms. Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top, but only toes in the water!

In Connecticut a sea breeze brings humid air. In California it does not.

The dew point here is 59&#176 with a breeze off the Ocean. It’s off Long Island Sound on the Connecticut shoreline today, but the dew point at New Haven is 74&#176.

Dew points in the 70&#176s are stressful enough to be dangerous.

Officially SoCal has a Mediterranean climate, just like Italy and the beaches of Southern Europe. It’s very nice.

We made a good weather trade.

12 thoughts on “Sweat There, Not Here”

  1. I have a feeling that our winter blizzards will cause you great hilarity now that you are in the land of perfect weather.

    1. Used to get that from the Snowbirds who go to Florida every winter. Then a couple years back the weather down there got into the single digits and we were in the 30s and 40s. Enjoyed that no end.

  2. …so what you’re saying is the ‘real feel’ of 104 is not something you even consider missing? 🙂

  3. Well, Geoff, You’ll stil have to refer to the east for the “interesting” weather! I won’t complain about the heat, never have. Florida boy by birth! I will remember these days fondly in January, when it’s cold enough to freeze your you-know-what’s off!
    My philosophy of life- “I’d rather sweat than shiver!”

    1. I’m agreeing with you, Alan. I love summer, wherever it is. I cannot bear winter, and I do a lot of complaining from November through May. But I never make a sound all summer. I’m adopting your philosophy – I’d rather sweat than shiver.

  4. Geoff, My brother lives in San Diego where it never gets hot supposedly and I think it was 3 or 4 years ago when we were visiting from CT and it reached 100 plus degrees. That year my wife wanted to do the whole California thing and we rented a mustang convertible. We had to go out after 11:00 at night to just enjoy the car!! That year I ended up staying in a hotel because my brother has no AC and he and his roommate all crashed in our room.

    Matt Dillon

  5. Thank you Geoff. It has taken 49 years for me to finally get an explanation as to WHY I would leave a sweltering 90 degree day in Burbank, drive over the hills to Will Rogers State Park and sit on an empty beach, wrapped in a blanket, shivering—when I (and my friends) were just looking for a dip in the Pacific to cool off. We’d only last about an hour and then head back into Burbank, and it had cooled to a mere 80 degrees. At that time of my life,not all apts had pools, nor did my friends have swimming pools. The same would be for swimming at Redondo Beach–along with the cold water you had those Pacific wave sets that could be downright scary if you weren’t a strong swimmer. I really did always wonder why the water was so cold out there in Southern Calif.–I could understand it if it were North of SF or up into Oregon.
    Yes—it has been a bit intolerable this week, and while I look forward to a bit of a cool down, can’t say I am looking forward to the predicted Strong T-storms. Enjoy your new life.

  6. Hi Geoff-
    Mentioned earlier to you our move to So Cal also…with our Maltese Opie!
    We are here now, we like the new development in Rancho Mission Veijo, prices are a “little” better. We lived in Tustin Ranch 13 years ago. Wow prices have gone up, $700,000 does not get you much.
    Beautiful weather, warm days, cool nights.

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