Historical day

[Exotic Life]

We are in a unique and at the same time a historical heatwave as I typ this message. 
Yesterday our national heat record from 38.6C got broken wich stands for 75 years as the maximum became 39.1C in the end of the day. This new record already got broken today as for the first time ever 40C/104F got registered in our little country. Finally 8 official places registered temperatures from 40C and higher with a new heat record now stands on 40.7C/Almost 106F but in practice more or less the whole south and east recorded close or over 40C. As I type this at 9.45PM it is still 35C/95F outside and don't expect to be lower than 30C/86F at midnight which is crazy for our latitude. 
Personally I also broke my record with just over 40C as my old one from 38.6C has been set last year july. Tomorrow one more hot day with possible temperatures up to 35-39C again before we starting to cool down.  

To "celebrate" this fact I took a few garden pictures and though maybe it would be nice to share. At least I did some heat practice again before visiting Florida. 

Edited July 25, 2019 by Exotic Life

[Exotic Life]

I will upload some more soon.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Exotic Life

[kinzyjr]

That's definitely hot for a place so far north and on the coast!

[HtownPalms]

It's crazy to hear about how hot it has been in Europe and the northern part of the US this summer. In my part of Texas we have had a relatively mild summer. We even had a rare July cool front push in the other day and last nights low temperature threatened to break the record set back in 1894. 

[Chester B]

Same here in the Pacific Northwest.  Average to below average all summer. 

I'm amazed that you can grow more palm species than where I am in the Netherlands.

[UK_Palms]

Nice palms Exotic Life, I especially like the Robusta. And yes, it has been very, very hot for us in western Europe.

I recorded 104F (40C) in the shade at 2:30pm today, here in southeastern England. Many other weather stations in my area were showing 103-105F, so I know these are pretty accurate readings. The clear skies allowed it to warm up very quickly this morning, as it was already 90F by 10am. And it had reached 100F by 12:30pm. But it clouded over down south by 3pm and the temperature fell away, back into the 90s, with high humidity. Still very hot though. 

London hit 101F. Cambridge hit 103F. Hounslow saw 104F. I recorded 104F here, near Guildford. Even saw some stations reading 106F in Kent, with heat indexes of 115F. So hot across the board, but the Met Office maintain that 101F was the maximum in the UK because they only use their own 'official' weather stations. Of which, there are none in my area... so...

I even had to give the Phoenix Dactylifera a BIG watering this evening... something I rarely have to do...

[Exotic Life]

18 hours ago, HtownPalms said:

It's crazy to hear about how hot it has been in Europe and the northern part of the US this summer. In my part of Texas we have had a relatively mild summer. We even had a rare July cool front push in the other day and last nights low temperature threatened to break the record set back in 1894. 

2018 was already a very warm, long and historic dry summer but maybe 2019 now have set the new standard for us in terms of possibilities.
It is now the question how long will this record stand and how often we will see this kind of temperatures. Maximum today went in a smaller area up again to 39-40C/104F which is crazy (cant remember anymore how much I said that the last few days).  


 

Edited July 26, 2019 by Exotic Life

[joe_OC]

It rained yesterday morning here in Huntington Beach (very rare for summer), then proceeded to warm up to 90F.

[PalmatierMeg]

Your palms in the Netherlands look happy with all that heat. Sorry to know people had to endure such temps as a/c in No. Europe is almost unheard of. Some extreme heat relief called for.

[Pip]

Looks like you have already got your garden ready for a warming climate ,Robin. 

[Phoenikakias]

Will it affect negatively cow milk and consequently cheese quality?

[Exotic Life]

On 7/27/2019 at 3:24 PM, Phoenikakias said:

Will it affect negatively cow milk and consequently cheese quality?

Don't think so as the heat in these extremes does not hold for very long. 
What we do see is that our extreme values are increasing during heatwaves so people are trying to adapt. Most of the houses are not build to keep the heat out but to keep the heat in. 
New homes are already build in a different way to keep also the heat out. People start working very early in the morning like you guys do in South Europe and than have the afternoon off. The last few years there Aircon are sold in increased numbers.  Not that we need that all year but at least that there are cooling options during the really warm events. 
In the end of the week my house was reading 32C inside and I did everything to keep the heat out. 

[Exotic Life]

Some more...

Need to remove this seeds quickly but it is always a nice sight...

Phoenix hybrid between roebelinni and dactylifera, at least that was the name when I got the seed. 
Interesting to see how this grows in the next few years as I will give it a bigger container next spring.

Back in Rotterdam I have the opportunity to see these noisy parakeets with hunderds in the same group flying every day, those birds really don't mind our climate but till now they only show up in the bigger cities or area's around that. 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Exotic Life