No wind chill when heat index is 106 degrees...
On the first day of summer...weather prognosticators gave to me...temperatures that didn’t look like they were going to be as hot as had been expected...and didn’t look like they were going to be as hot as they were last week.
Before we chat about the weather...did you happen to see that a shrink-wrapped copy of the 1986 “Back to the Future” VHS tape set a record at a June 10 auction by selling for $75,000?
For whatever it might be worth, but not $75,000, “Back to the Future” is one of my favorite movies. And, yes, we have a VHS tape version of the film. The shrink wrap is long gone. And we haven’t watched the movie in a long time.
The tape was sold at auction sale conducted by a firm in Dallas, Texas. According to a new release posted online by the firm, the sale featured 260 VHS tapes. Nearly 600 bidders from around the world spent close to $585,000 on the tapes. With that kind of money floating around, you can tell that this was not a yard sale.
A collector from New York, who apparently had been out in the heat way too long, spent $75,000 on the “Back to the Future” VHS tape. The Other Half and yours truly enjoyed going to auctions back in the day. She occasionally still does such things online.
As far as I know, we have never spent $75,000 for anything at an auction. Long ago, I did spend $10, or maybe $15, for an oak buffet, with a beveled mirror, which we still have.
I will say that seeing a VHS tape selling for $75,000 sort of made me want to see if we still have any treasures like that at home. Haven’t looked yet.
Meanwhile...
Mother Nature has turned up the heat during June in the Land Between the Rivers. Looks like this week might not be as hot as it was last week.
And speaking of last week, yours truly decided to stick with a routine in the midst of an excessive heat warning in Southern Illinois.
As you may recall, during the course of a week, my routine involves a visit to the Lincoln Memorial Picnic Grounds in Jonesboro on a Thursday afternoon. Been doing that for years, after a regular visit to the Union County Courthouse, which also happens to be in Jonesboro.
Since I am a creature of habit, I kept the routine going Thursday afternoon, June 16. As it turned out, a much wiser person probably would have stayed indoors, where conditions were at least a little bit cooler.
To tell you the truth, it didn’t seem all that hot outside when I was at the park in Jonesboro. I suppose it should have been a clue when I spotted a squirrel dipping a tea bag in water in the pond at the park. Another squirrel at the park gave me a bit of a “Are you nuts?” look...from a cool spot in the shade.
Well, I got back to The Paragraph Factory and decided to pay a visit to the website for the National Weather Service office in Paducah. Just wanted to check on weather conditions at the time.
Turns out, it really would have been wiser to stay indoors. At 1:52 p.m. Thursday, June 16, the following conditions were reported at the Southern Illinois Airport near Carbondale:
Humidity 51 percent. Partly cloudy. Temperature 95 degrees Farenheit. Wind speed 12 miles per hour out of the southwest, with gusts up to 18 mph. Visibility 9 miles (couldn’t see quite that far at the park in Jonesboro, unless I happened to look straight up). Heat index 106 degrees.
Yup. Should have stayed inside.
Since the wind was blowing, I thought there might have been a wind chill. Don’t hear much about that during the summer.
The weather service actually had an online Wind Chill Calculator. To use the calculator, you typed in the air temperature and the wind speed. I typed in the air temperature (95) and the wind speed (18).
Turned out there was not a wind chill last Thursday. After I typed in the numbers, a message popped up which shared that temperatures needed to be above 50 degrees below zero and at, or below, 50 degrees F. Oh, well. Wind speeds above 3 mph also are needed.
I have never experienced temperatures that were 50 degrees below zero. Don’t ever want to. Michigan winters were cold, but I don’t think they were that cold. The Other Half experienced winters in Montana. She might have seen temperatures closer to 50 degrees below zero.
Just a reminder...Tuesday, June 21, was the first day of summer. Autumn starts September 22...