And so it begins, or rather....has begun, several weeks earlier than normal
One evening last week I noticed a USFS spotter plane and light tanker, flying in formation, returning to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, likely from a fire in south central Idaho. The next morning, it was fully loaded C-130's roaring off from NIFC, probably going to the same fire. The following morning, we woke to our first day of that familiar summertime smell: smoke, and all weekend long, the air quality index was bouncing between 75 and 150.
This being after a June being 8 degrees hotter than average and so far in July we are some 11 degrees hotter than average. Last week we tied the record for consecutive days of 100 plus at 9 days. At the end of this week we will likely have 3 average summers worth of daytime highs of 100 plus and we are almost halfway into July. Right now, we have 11 such days and I feel the record of 20 will easily be broken by the time this season is over. In fact, there have only been 5 days below the average daily high in the last month and a half. The one thing holding true to form is the lack of precipitation. Around here, July and August are generally bone dry.
Yes, it's hot all over the west and for some folks, it's much worse than my local example. We've lived here for over 40 years but this year is shaping up to easily be the hottest we've experienced in that time.
Understanding that my anecdotal evidence is exactly that, something just don't feel right here - nor has it for the last several years.
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