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alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,229
Alaska
We are experiencing an unprecedented heat wave in SouthCentral Alaska over the last week, and it is not supposed to let up anytime soon. I know many of you lower 48ers will have little sympathy for our modestly scorching dry temps, but for us this is INSANE and we are all wandering around naked and dehydrated. I am not even wearing waders fishing anymore, as they produce instant swamp ass and all my clothing gets soaked immediately. I'd rather be soaked in cool clear water than sweat.
It has gotten so hot that it is difficult to even have a pleasant smoke outside. Anyone have any favorite hot weather blends that can make this less insufferable?
hot2-450x600.jpg

Cheers!
Frank

 

danimalia

Lifer
Sep 2, 2015
4,385
26,440
41
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
Oakland probably has 5-10 days a year the temperature climbs above 90, and it's usually in the 70's in the summer. I feel you. 100 degrees is hot. Too hot. I don't care what anyone says.
The consensus seems to be that VA based blends are the ticket on hot days. Maybe a lighter, sweeter VA like the Golden Sliced or LNF.

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,087
6,394
Florida
I am aware of the unfolding and developing catastrophe occurring, especially in the Arctic region.

I expect that the temps in Anchorage will be higher than those I experience today in Ocala, Florida.

Topsy turvy is now the norm.

My daughter and son in law live in Douglas. They're not experiencing quite such an anomaly, yet.

All we'll have left, in the very near future, is 'the tip'. Science has been consistent yet underestimating of what we're seeing. As with icebergs, global warming is mostly unseen till it is too late to repel disaster for organisms of all kinds.
It's like thunder...and lightning. The way it's happnin is frightening. We'd better knock...on wood.(or meerschaum) :puffpipe:

 

taildraggin

Might Stick Around
May 25, 2019
62
0
UFB. I've been going back and forth between NY and SoCal and Wx has been a bit odd. We already have 2X the annual rainfall total in SD. While NY temps are high but within "normal", the winds are funky. Usually 2 choices in fair weather 310 deg after a front (cool, fast), which backs to a seabreeze from 240 for 3-4 days (building warmth, light/mod). A front comes through and the cycle starts over. Instead, June and July have been mostly slow, wet easterlies and hot hazy westerlies. "Sick" winds.
SoCal doesn't have Wx. A student pilot in SD County at our cigar shop bragged about doing a 5kt crosswind landing! (Then, when your fully dulled, you get a Santa Ana or into the desert and then you're into 45kts on an otherwise nice clear day. Yea, it's strange.) After 25 yrs, I do need to get a rating - need it more in SoCal than east coast. Can't move until the marine layer lifts ~11am. Just so I can get out in the AM (and back in evening, when it creeps back in).
Tobacco: some hot days nothing 'works' for me. I put the pipe down. Just forcing it. But, Escudo did, yesterday FWIW, and Brown No 4 late...loving that stuff.
Over Venice Beach looking toward retreating marine layer over Malibu, 11:40am.

venice-sm.jpg

If you're wondering what Ridgecrest the quake site looks like. It's the China Lake Naval Weapons test center in the Mojave.

ridgecrest-600x450.jpg


 

hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,220
Austin, TX
When it’s hot out I gravitate towards:
GH Kendal Flake

Orlik Golden Sliced

St. Bruno

Condor Plug

PS Luxury Navy Flake

PS Luxury Twist Flake (with a minimum of 3 yrs age on it -this one really transforms with age on it - I hate it fresh but love it aged)

Billy Budd (the cigar leaf in it makes it enjoyable for me in the summer months, nice n’ spicy)

HU Directors Cut

HU Sissinghurst

HU Daddy Gefftl

Peterson 3P’s

Warrior Plug

 

dcon

Lifer
Mar 16, 2019
2,636
21,489
Jacksonville, FL
The predominant temperature in FL is HOT AS HELL so, I don’t let the temperature dictate my smokes (just the rain) :(

Smoke what you want, when you want.

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,229
Alaska
It'll be a hot day in Alaska ... oops
Hahaha, I see what you did there. An appropriate dichotomy!
But honestly (and unfortunately) Alaska and Hell feel synonymous at the moment. It is hot as hell and full of smoke and fire. What a lot of people from the lower 48 don't realize about an Alaskan heat wave, is that the vast majority of residential homes as well as many commercial buildings do NOT have air conditioning here, as we typically only see about 10 days over 70 degrees, and maybe 2 or 3 above 80 each summer (In SouthCentral anyway, the interior is much hotter) Without fans galore it is often worse inside than it is outside :(

 

danimalia

Lifer
Sep 2, 2015
4,385
26,440
41
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
It's like that here in the Bay Area, too. Any heatwave means stores selling out of fans and those portable AC units. It sucks. I've been known to sneak into apartment complex/HOA pools when I get desperate.

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,229
Alaska
I would kill someone, maybe even a close family member, for an outdoor pool right now. They straight up don't exist here :cry:

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,205
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Just do what many of us up here do in the heat, pick a room to keep cool and dark, pull the drapes/blinds, make sure the fans aren't simply sucking hot, outside air into the house. I keep the master bedroom dark, cross ventilated. The lack of air conditioning isn't as bad as all of the homes with large windows to take advantage of the beautiful vistas. Large panes of glass simply allow the sunshine to bake the inside of the house. Many Alaskans (Architects included) don't think of that when designing a house, we want all the daylight we can get in the winter months. And, we aren't smart enough to learn from other areas the advantages of deep eaves which keep out the mid-day sun, think Mediterranean. And, the few days we get of 80+ temps really isn't that much of a problem most summers.
Fairbanks gets a number of 90 degree plus days every summer. This really isn't anything new for the interior. 80+ is hard on South-Central (Anchorage and environs), after a few days, we get testy.
As far as "climate change", we either adapt or die. Nothing different over the millennia. Species come and go, temps raise and lower, catastrophes occur with regularity, ice sheets advance and recede, continents move hither and yon, bumping and scraping each other. I suppose the suspense of "what's next" is what makes life on earth so entertaining.

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,087
6,394
Florida
Since Hurricane Irma knocked out my power (with 41 mph winds) for 8 days, I live in fear of losing it again during any of our approx. 3 mos. of 90's with attendant humidity.

If I were younger and more healthy, this might not faze me. I did live w/o a/c here for about 20 yrs during one stretch.

Why? well...let's just say I'm a tree hugger and leave it at that.

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,205
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
One's health is, for sure, a determinant as to how we handle adversity. I just went through some major problems and I'm not handling our wee heat wave as well as I have in the past. Add the meds, pain, new diet, limited mobility, age, all together and I realize time is short and dealing with problems is that much harder.

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,229
Alaska
Hey Warren!!! Good to see you back! And yeah, we always have the fans pulling hot air OUT of the house, it seems to keep it much cooler. That and we have been spending a lot of time in the back room of our daylight basement, it is basically like a giant root cellar, so we cleaned off the guest futon in there and have been reading a lot, hahaha. You couldn't pay me to live in the interior during the summers. I'd take the -100 winter days over 100F. But maybe that's just the sloper in me talking.
We have a 2 month old girl as well, so keeping her cool has been a top priority, lest there be screaming...

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,229
Alaska
After 25 yrs, I do need to get a rating - need it more in SoCal than east coast
Yeah, i've heard quite a few pilots from that area speak to that coastal fog bank. Many of them also said it makes for ideal conditions to get an IFR rating though, for IFR training in particular.
I've been tempted by the rating a few times, but IFR conditions in Alaska are still just too scary for me. With the terrain we have (and the flight patterns around/through it) it is just spooky as hell. Many of the wrecks up here are IFR pilots "pushing through" a layer right into the side of a mountain. I know, I know, proper training and good habits, etc. etc. but at this point with the hours I have I just don't want to tempt fate, hahaha. Also, it's bloody expensive.
I don't think I've ever done a crosswind landing with LESS than 5kts, hahaha. Until I started flying floats that is. Now damn near all my landings are 0kts crosswind :lol:

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,229
Alaska
HAHAHA, a fine idea jaytex. If I really want it that badly though, I'll just walk to the river. Way fewer shirtless bros in there, hahaha.
Normally we would just fly to the cabin, especially on a 4 day weekend, where we have a great swimming lake, but with the 2 month old and the dog in the 185 it is logistically daunting, especially since my cargo door (where the dog would be relegated) doesn't exactly "lock") and I don't have any mini ear muffs for the kiddo yet.

 

taildraggin

Might Stick Around
May 25, 2019
62
0
My buddy and I were droning at 10.5k, cruising to a hunt with the dog in baggage. My buddy frantically taps me that the baggage door had popped open. I looked back and the dog was eyeing the new light source back there. I figured air pressure would keep it closed, but my buddy grabbed his lead and tied it off on the seat mount. Then, we sat there for 20 or so seconds, looked at each other and started laughing until tears were streaming. We both had the thought of him “getting out, one last time”, trying to figure out the new ‘environment’, ears and dew laps flapping.
We flew a lot together. He loved it as long as he had hearing protection. They have helmets for dogs now, but I used loose box cotton which worked well.

Used little sound muffs when the kids were small - they sack out almost immediately. We had little DCs later.

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,229
Alaska
Hahaha, yeah I've had that nightmare play out in my head a few times with that little goddamn cargo door. Visions of dogs, moose meat, or $800 fly rods flying out into space, bashing the stabilizer/elevator, etc. Even when "locked" all it takes is a stiff pull for it to pop open, and our clumsy ass hound would undoubtedly bash against it at some point.
Sounds like you nearly lived it. Amazing how many almost terrible stories one can accumulate while zooming around the air in a spam can. And yet somehow most of us get through it without too many disasters. Hard to believe there isn't someone or something watching out for us humans, who were clearly never meant to travel through the air, hahaha.

 
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