NoOne N Particular wrote:
dpb wrote:
charlieb wrote:
...
(if you want temperature extremes - head for Central Texas -
30 degree low, 105 degree high the next day, then hail the next
day followed by a week of cloudless 100 -107 degree days. Then
there's a frost. Wait a day or two and you've got lightening storms
you can't imagine 'til you've experienced it, with torrential
rains - blowing horizontally by 40-50 mph winds. Did I mention
the wasps and locust? I think God does all his testing for
things to get sinners' attention in Central Texas)

In general, don't disagree, but that's a pretty apt description of
anywhere on the High Plains from W TX to SK, not _just_ wherever you
are in TX...


Well I'm not from Texas but it sounds like a good place to be FROM.
:-) I was raised in Albuquerque so I know a little about the weather
swings. I can remember waking up to beautiful bright sunny skies and in
a couple of hours it would be raining so hard that we truly could not
see the houses across the street. Then two hours later everything is
nice and clear, warm and DRY. I can also remember looking out into the
deserts in the west and seeing huge clouds of blowing sand coming our
way. We would have to go inside and close all the windows (and chink
them in some places) and ride out the dust storms. I hated those.
Imagine being in a house that you have had to seal against the sand and
this house has no ventilation of any kind. No Swamp cooler or even fans.

Out here in Oakley, (California's newest city about 60 miles inland from
San Francisco along the San Joaquin River) it is quite different. We
are just on the western side of the interior valley and summers are just
about always clear and hot with, at most, about a 40 degree swing in
temps. Summer highs probably would average out to be in the 100 to 105
range and the lows at night would be from 70 to about 75 or so. The
highest temp I have seen is a 117 on two or three bank signs. Don't
know how accurate the signs were but it was HOT HOT HOT!!! Humidity be
damned. 110's and 112's are not nearly rare enough. :-) You'd think
that the evenings would be great, and they would be except for
mosquitoes in the two hours surrounding sunset. Winter high temps are
usually in the fifties with occasional dips into the 40's. Winter lows
rarely ever go below freezing but we have had some mid twenties.

One of the things that gets me the most is the "delta breezes". You get
up in the morning and the weather is beautiful. Clear skies, moderate
temps, and no wind. Then about 1:00 or 1:30 you will feel a slight puff
of wind on your face, but it doesn't stop. The wind speed just keeps
building until about sunset and by that time it is 20-25 mph. As soon
as the sun sets the breezes start to diminish and within an hour they
are gone.

The mountains generate weather in high country, yes, and it is indeed
quite variable.

Don't need to tell somebody in the center of what was the 30s what
blowing dirt is, either... While I'm not _that_ old I do remember
the 50s that were a mini-version.

Your CA "delta breezes" are a poor cousin of the High Plains
heating-generated winds we have. 20-30 is still pretty near "calm" in
our dictionary

While it sounds bad, the nice days are really appreciated for one and
who wants the same ol' same ol' every day, anyway?

When in TN/VA I really missed two things -- seeing the horizon and the
massive building of thunderstorms. Of course, once in a while they get
just a little out of hand, but...

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