Archive for the ‘Weather’ Category

The coconut-oil temperature gauge

April 12, 2026

The background. In two postings on this blog.

— on 8/9/23, in “The states of matter: coconut X”: the spreadable coconut fat (a semi-solid cream I use for daily treatment of my feet, legs, hands, and arms) melts (at around 77F) to to a free-flowing liquid; when cooled in the refrigerator, it’s transformed into a firm solid that you have to deal with in hard chunks.

— on 3/20/26, in “Coconut X revisited”:

Today is March 20th, the first day of spring — the vernal equinox — here in the northern hemisphere. But also another day of record-breaking heat in the southern SF bay, set to soar once again to over 90F. When I went to oil my legs and feet at 6:30 am, it had already melted to a messy liquid.

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Coconut X revisited

March 20, 2026

Briefly noted. From my 8/9/23 posting “The states of matter: coconut X”:

I discovered the melting point of coconut X several summers ago. My air-conditioning aims to cool things to 80 F, so when it gets hot outside, inside my condo the spreadable coconut fat ([a semi-solid cream] used for daily treatment of my feet, legs, hands, and arms) melts (at around 77 F) to to a free-flowing liquid that’s very hard to cope with.

So this morning I put the jar in the refrigerator (where it’s probably between 35 and 40 F) — and discovered another state of the substance, a very firm solid that is also almost impossible to deal with; I have to chip away chunks of the stuff with a pointed implement, chunks that alas, do not spread (though I can get small amounts of the liquid state by using the (roughly 97 F) body heat in my hands to melt a chunk).

That was on an early August day, in the dog days of summer. Today is March 20th, the first day of spring — the vernal equinox — here in the northern hemisphere. But also another day of record-breaking heat in the southern SF bay, set to soar once again to over 90F. When I went to oil my legs and feet at 6:30 am, it had already melted to a messy liquid. (I got up at 3:30 am to enjoy the cool and quiet of the night, and did in fact finish a posting then. After which I turned into a reptile stunned by the heat.) Tomorrow the temperature will drop by 20 degrees, and I’ll be able to walk in the neighborhood again. May it be so.

Posted in Chemistry, My life, Weather | 2 Comments »

Pressure Drops and Itchy Spots

November 17, 2025

Yesterday’s set-up (“Two afflictions”) for today’s more detailed report:

I have largely lost the last few days to afflictions

…. One of [them] comes with rapid descents into very low barometric pressures [pressure drops] (as has happened twice in the last three days, as sea storms sweep through coastal California). The other is a mystery ailment that has variously annoyed and plagued me for many years: intensely itchy spots over most of my body, but especially my limbs, sometimes maturing into actual pustules; I have taken to referring to this condition as the itchies. On the night of the 14th/15th, I had the worst attack of the itchies in my life

So today I bring you a report on the Days of Pressure Drops and the Itchies. You hope for days of milk and honey, cakes and ale, wine and roses, beer and skittles, but sometimes you get days of pressure drops and the itchies. Both of which hurt, both of which exhaust you.

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Posted in Language and medicine, Language and the body, My life, Weather | 1 Comment »

The march of the boletes

August 17, 2025

From Matthew Melmon on Facebook yesterday:

— MM: The humidity today is unreasonable. SADNESS. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

In response:

— AZ > MM: Yes, something we’re not used to. But then, predictably, it has brought the boletus mushrooms back to my patio garden. (They will wait underground, for decades if necessary, until there’s warm humid weather, when they will suddenly send their fruiting bodies aboveground, to spread their spores everywhere on passing breezes.)

Recent appearances of the boletes in my garden were noted in postings on this blog, in 11/23, 9/24, and 5/25. The current outbreak is the first one I’ve noticed in August.

 

Posted in Language and plants, Weather | 2 Comments »

Against the chill of winter

November 11, 2023

It’s suddenly wintry-cold here: night-time lows in the low 40s F, day-time highs only flirting with 70 F, and then just briefly for a moment in the afternoon. It’s time to sleep warm — break out the quilts — and dress warm — it’s flannel-shirt weather — and abandon going barefoot, in favor of (if you are me) savoring the warmth of shearling-lined moccasins (which are also kind to my huge and painful bunions). Yes, there will be pictures.

But I will be brief. Like my previous two postings, this is a Posting Through Pain; the middle finger on my right hand is no longer visibly inflamed, but the first joint is still hugely swollen and painful — and, now, so are almost all of the joints on both of my hands, so typing is harrowing, and I can manage only brief bursts of writing at the keyboard.

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Posted in Academic life, Clothing, Shoes, Weather | 4 Comments »

Der Pinguin ist kaput

March 14, 2023

Today’s sad news, an outcome of dramatic high winds that battered and, eventually, smashed my plastic patio plant penguin, the 2-ft b&w sentinel that stood guard by my back door for some years, and before that watched over various very large potted plants.

I’m waiting for the winds to die down to assemble the pieces and put them in the trash.  Then, in a few days we’re supposed to have more rainstorms, floods, and mudslides.

It seems that I have only one photo of the decedent, one that doesn’t show them to best advantage.

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Posted in My life, Penguins, Weather | 1 Comment »

Pretty in pink 2018

February 5, 2018

First, the recent cymbidium report. Last week’s new orchid blooms were these pretty pink ones:

(#1)

I posted a photo of this plant last year, under the title “Pretty in pink”. But last year it had only a couple flower stems, while this year it has many; and last year it bloomed a full month later than this year.

At this point my plant report veers briefly into a weather report, after which I return to plants, in particular a remarkable succulent — sometimes called evil genius — that blooms at the beginning of a warm season, and is now flourishing in the Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford.

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Posted in Language and plants, Names, Weather | 3 Comments »

Lake Cachuma

April 4, 2015

(About weather/climate, rather than language.)

Caught on local public radio a little while back, a story about Lake Cachuma (in Santa Barbara County), saying that the water level in the lake had dropped by 60 feet in a fairly short period of time, to only 20% of capacity. We’re in a serious drought, and it’s being accentuated by warming (which increases evaporation from the lake).

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