I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever remember feeling so oppressively hot and unproductive indoors. That includes the month in Aug/Sept I spent in an un-airconditioned dorm in College Station, TX. At CDNews World HQ, it’s currently 93F downstairs and 97F upstairs, and well over 100F in the backyard.
The city sent word earlier today that five libraries are now closed due to indoor temperatures above 90 degrees, including the Columbia City branch. Luckily our library at 23rd & Yesler has A/C and will be open until 8pm for your cool reading enjoyment.
Seattle Public Utilities also says that water usage is at a recent high as people water their gardens and find other ways to cool off. But interestingly, conservation measures have it at 20% less than similarly hot days in the 1970s, and water storage volume is still at normal levels. They recommend only watering between 7pm and 10am due to the effect of rapid evaporation in this heat.
There have also been reports of electrical outages as equipment gets overtaxed, and brush fires in other places. We’re keeping an eye out for any of that around here and will let you know if it happens.
In the meantime, refer back to our keeping-cool story from Sunday, and stop by some of these local businesses that have A/C:
- All Purpose Pizza at 29th & Jackson
- The Bottleneck Lounge at 24th & Madison (CDNews sponsors)
- Central Cinema at 21st & Union (CDNews sponsors)
- Naam Thai Cuisine at 34th & Union
And finally, commenter arch shared this useful link a few days ago: http://www.wikihow.com/Cool-Yourself-Without-Air-Conditioning
I really wish parks and rec would abide by the 7 to 10 watering hours. They have sprinklers cranking all day and it makes me crazy!
Seattle Parks and Recreation sprinklers are running, in part, to offer some relief to folks who want to cool off in them. That’s what I heard from a staff person at one community center.