Heatwave 2! Send for Weathertron!

[IanHarrison 521]

3 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

I used to set my thermostat in the UK relatively low to save money, so don't require a very warm house. Here, in a draughty cottage with dodgy old single glazed sash windows and minimal heating... its a whole new ball game.   

I have never lived in a house with double glazing. Before we moved to S.Africa in the 60s, my parents' house was a 1938 semi. I remember the coal fires and having to stuff the windows with newspaper round the edges, to stop draughts during winter. 

Here, double glazing is just coming in as a standard.

[martin-w 3,234]

14 minutes ago, IanHarrison said:

I have never lived in a house with double glazing.

 

My parents house in the UK, an old Victorian terraced house in the midlands (still had the old gas fittings in the walls for lighting)  used to get ice on the inside of the windows in the winter. 😁 No central heating either, just coal fires. 

Double glazing certainly makes a big difference. 18% of the heat is lost through the windows. 

Do you actually need double glazing in a country as hot as South Africa Ian? 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by martin-w

[dave2013 1,123]

Pretty much all newer windows in the USA are dual-pane.

We have them on our house and they really do make a big difference.  Even with the summer sun shining into the windows the interior pane is much cooler than a single-pane would be.

Dave

[sightseer 895]

The house I grew up in had gas central heat.  One of my grandmothers had gas floor furnaces but the other had a wood burning cast iron stove.  They were common where she lived.  My dad eventually put one in our basement.  You cant beat a cast iron stove.

The apartment I rented in Dallas was very drafty and I used heavy blankets to stop the cold air from coming in the windows.  I had southern exposure so I would open them during the day and cover them at night.  The door that went out on the balcony had a large single pane glass insert that let in a lot of cold air but I discovered that I could set a cardboard 'wall' on the floor to catch the cold air and it would regulate its temperature before it made it over the wall.  That trick  helped immensely.

[IanHarrison 521]

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

Do you actually need double glazing in a country as hot as South Africa Ian? 

 

 

Remember that the Highveld and interior are about 3-5000 feet above sea level, so there is frost in the Winter. At the coast, we are not so badly off. Today (winter time) it is cold here only 12 C. We occasionally get close to freezing point. According to my weather station, our max. at the coast in the last two years was 40.6C and minimum 0.6C

[martin-w 3,234]

17 hours ago, IanHarrison said:

Today (winter time) it is cold here only 12 C.

 

In the British Isles that's lovely in the winter. I barely notice 12C when I'm out. 😁 Fascinating how perception of hot or cold varies dependent on what we are used to. Minus 27 is the lowest recorded in Scotland. Minus 23 in the Midlands where I used to live. In Guernsey where I live now, lowest ever recorded was minus 7C. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by martin-w

[james42 257]

On 8/12/2022 at 8:01 AM, Ray Proudfoot said:

Wow! You are a rare breed. 😳

Indeed I am! I even keep the windows open all year round. The coldest I've ever gone out in shorts is -5 😆. I definitely favor the cold weather over the hot. 

[sightseer 895]

I never realized just how extreme places I've lived could be.  One year in Dallas, it was a week or so before Christmas and we'd been having exceptionally warm weather (for the season).  I was wearing t shirts the day before I was set to drive to my parents house.  It was nearly 80F.  A cold front came through that night and by the next morning it was 11 degrees F with ice everywhere.  It took me hours just to get outside the city limits a bit.  Lake Ray Hubbard looked other worldly with and odd greenish color and clouds of steam billowing up from it to meet the grey overcast.  18 wheelers were sliding sideways on the bridges as we were all foolishly insistent on getting where we were going.  

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by sightseer

[Ray Proudfoot 8,919]

New weather record set today. First time I’ve recorded four consecutive days where the temp has exceeded 30°C (86°F). Tomorrow will be the same so uncharted territory for us Brits. At 53° 21’N and the North Atlantic not that far away it’s highly unusual.

http://www.cheadlehulmeweather.co.uk/betel_datasummary.php

http://www.cheadlehulmeweather.co.uk/today.htm

[birdguy 3,943]

52 minutes ago, sightseer said:

It was nearly 80F.  A cold front came through that night and by the next morning it was 11 degrees F with ice everywhere. 

Here on the front range where we are on the east side of the Rockies we get what we call 'back door' fronts.  Instead of a cold front coming down from the northwest we get a bubble of cold air from Canada sliding down the front range from the north and east.

They are the coldest fronts we get.  It can 20F here in Roswell at 3,600ft while up in Ruidoso, 60 miles to the west and at an elevation of over 7,000ft it will be 40F.  Those bubbles of cold air that slide down from the northeast are shallow so you don't have to climb far to get out of them.

Noel

[martin-w 3,234]

And drought conditions in 8 English areas.

Edited August 13, 2022 by martin-w