1 Hornet nests: nature's version of the Claymore mine.

2 This sounds like an excellent premise for a video game. How many deadly beasts can a beaver form a symbiotic relationship with? I'll bet the hornets love all the wood chips that beavers leave around.

3

How many deadly beasts can a beaver form a symbiotic relationship with?

That is what a couple Fuel-Air Explosives are for.

1 The Butterfly was a great phone.  I'm back on my Nexus 4 after I broke my Nexus 5; it has the same CPU and RAM specs as the Butterfly (but a smaller screen) and really it works just fine.

The only thing I really want is more storage, because I use my phone as a replacement for my iPod, and the Nexus 4 only has 16GB.

1 We just got here after a 1900-mile drive, and seem to have brought our own weather with us.  Sorry for the 90s next week.

1 National Weather Service says your air is unhealthy to breath right now.

2 I guess I better stop, eh?

3

I thought you were kidding, but you weren't.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
447 PM PDT SAT AUG 22 2015

ORZ006-007-010-011-014>016-WAZ039-045-046-240000-
GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA-CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY-
NORTHERN OREGON CASCADE FOOTHILLS-NORTHERN OREGON CASCADES-
UPPER HOOD RIVER VALLEY-WESTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE-
CENTRAL COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE-GREATER VANCOUVER AREA-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...HILLSBORO...PORTLAND...WILSONVILLE...
OREGON CITY...GRESHAM...TROUTDALE...SALEM...MCMINNVILLE...
WOODBURN...STAYTON...DALLAS...SANDY...ESTACADA...
SILVER FALLS STATE PARK...SWEET HOME...GOVERNMENT CAMP...
DETROIT...SANTIAM PASS...PARKDALE...ODELL...CORBETT...
ROOSTER ROCK...MULTNOMAH FALLS...CASCADE LOCKS...HOOD RIVER...
VANCOUVER...BATTLE GROUND...RIDGEFIELD...WASHOUGAL...YACOLT...
AMBOY...NORTH BONNEVILLE...STEVENSON...CARSON...UNDERWOOD
447 PM PDT SAT AUG 22 2015

...AIR QUALITY ALERT IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM PDT SUNDAY...

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY HAS ISSUED AN AIR QUALITY
ALERT...IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM PDT SUNDAY.

A SMOKE AIR QUALITY ALERT HAS BEEN ISSUED. WILDFIRES BURNING IN THE
REGION COMBINED WITH FORECASTED CONDITIONS WILL CAUSE AIR QUALITY TO
REACH UNHEALTHY LEVELS. AIR QUALITY MAY BRIEFLY REACH VERY
UNHEALTHY LEVELS LATE TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING.

POLLUTANTS IN SMOKE CAN CAUSE BURNING EYES...RUNNY NOSE...AGGRAVATE
HEART AND LUNG DISEASES...AND AGGRAVATE OTHER SERIOUS HEALTH
PROBLEMS. LIMIT OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES AND KEEP CHILDREN INDOORS IF IT
IS SMOKY. PLEASE FOLLOW MEDICAL ADVICE IF YOU HAVE A HEART OR LUNG
CONDITION.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...PLEASE VISIT THE WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.OREGON.GOV/DEQ

For whatever it's worth, it hasn't been annoying so far; none of the "eyes burning" or any of the rest of that. At least so far.

4 By the way, they're full of it. The wind shifted and now I can't smell any wood smoke at all.

1 I spent last week in Hillsboro and the weather was very stable, about 100 defF or about +28C. Low winds, thin cloud layer overcast about 12k. KHIO has a significant student traffic, both fixed- and rotary-wing. When I went there, my wife asked about the weather and I fed her the line I that I think I read here at Chizumatic: "if you don't like the weather (in Williamette valley), wait 15 minutes and it'll change". In actual fact the weather was stable for a week.

2

Oregonians don't like to admit to people from out-of-state that we actually do get sun here. Of course, that's seasonal; another saying around here is that we get two seasons: Winter, and August.

That one isn't true, either.

But in the winter it's possible to go weeks at a time without ever seeing the sun. I remember when I worked at Tektronix that sometimes we'd hire someone from elsewhere, and they'd live through one winter here, go mildly nuts, and then leave to go somewhere else.

Especially in the Willamette Valley (and offshoots, like Tualatin Valley) the weather in the Spring and Autumn can be extremely variable. That's because storm systems blow in from the Pacific, breeze right over, and keep going east.

But for the last month or so, we've been getting our weather blown up here from Nevada a lot of the time, like today. The Jet Stream has been staying north of us.

Anyway, I've got my ice so I'm set for today.

3 Well, it's the hottest part of the day and the thermometer on my deck says 95. But inside here it's actually a bit chilly. I think I'm going to eat a hot meal and warm up a bit.

4

So today's heat index is expected to be 109 in sunny Houston.  It was 112 last week.

On Monday of that week, when I left work, my car thermometer read 106.  Twelve miles down the road it read 78  -- I'd driven into the center of a large afternoon thunderstorm.  From the radar, if we don't get over 100 today, it will be for a similar reason.

5

The people who are really praying for rain are out east in the Willamette Valley.  The reservoirs are really low, and it's costing them a lot of money.  Detroit is only 16% full, and it's orphaned all but one of the boat ramps on the lake--and this is a town that exists solely for the recreation on the reservoir.  I don't know how many businesses won't be able to survive this summer, but some probably will go under.

At least you're asking the Weather Bureau.  Some people were upset with the Corps of Engineers because our reservoirs aren't full.  Not joking, like you.  Legitimately upset and demanded that we do something about it.  I think our leaders wanted to tell them, "Dude, if we could control the weather, we'd be doing something a lot more lucrative than 'Army officer' or 'government bureaucrat'."

6

I'm trying to imagine what Detroit lake would look like that low, and I can't. We used to vacation in that area when I was a kid.

I guess they couldn't exactly let the Santiam river dry up, so they had to keep releasing water from there, but as you say, it kind of kicks Detroit in the teeth.

7

I found this from April with pictures of the lake bed, and it looks like things are really terrible. That was several months ago; likely it's even worse now.

Detroit used to be at the bottom of the valley, and when they planned the dam, one of the things that had to be done was to move Detroit up to above the anticipated water line. So they built a new Detroit, moved everyone to it, and then tore down the old one and hauled all the wreckage away so that it didn't end up in the lake and potentially foul the dam.

This all happened about the time I was born.

The location is such that they could have built a lot taller dam there and made a much larger lake, but there wasn't really any good reason to do that with the amount of water flow feeding the location. The two rivers (North Santiam and Breitenbush) are just not all that big even at the best of times.

8 I just read it more carefully, and those pictures are from Feb, 2013. But they are probably representative of how it looks now.

9 After the multiple inches of rain we got last night, caused by a major-league cold front rolling through, today's high temperature here in Duckford was 70°. 

Happy Summer!

10

We've been threatened with rain several times in the last month, with anything from 10% to 80% in the forecast, but we haven't gotten an7 at all. We're in for 20% chance Friday night, but I bet it doesn't happen.

We don't ordinarily go this long without any rain even in the summer.

11

Before this summer, the minimum flow maintained out of Big Cliff, which reregulates just downstream of Detroit, was 1500 cfs.  They worked through NMFS, ODFW, and whoever else to get that cut to 1000 cfs (and that caused a lot of angst), but there's still mostly a downward trend in the reservoir.

Eyeballing the data available here, it looks like the reservoir has dropped about 15 feet in the last 30 days.  That page has a teacup diagram showing the percent full.  If you click on any of the dams, you'll get a PDF that shows current status and historical data.  The entire system is only 29% full, and 68% below the total rule curve.  It's not enough to do water restrictions, but it's hitting businesses hard.

12 After 10" in May, we've gone 50 days without rain.  It's like the drought never ended.

I'm leaving for vacation (driving) on the 31st, with Portland as the turn-around point; what kind of weather should we expect in September, and will the leaves be changing in the mountains by then?

13

Leaves? Since when are there leaves on evergreens?

We do have deciduous trees in this area in lower areas but the mountains are covered in fir and pine. The deciduous trees mostly do their thing in October; I would be surprised if there was much to see even in late September.

September will be sunny and not quite as hot as it's been this month. You might see a few rainy days, but probably not many.

14

Catcube, that chart is scary. I had no idea the situation was so bad. I'm used to thinking of the Willamette Valley as the land of rain, rain, and more rain, but it looks like that hasn't been the case for the last couple of years.

The good news is the El Nino is coming and preliminary estimates are that it will be a strong one. So we should start soaking again Real Soon Now.

Or maybe not.

Generally, it is expected that this will lead to below-normal precipitation and higher-than-normal temperatures across the Columbia Basin and Canadian border states to the east through next spring.

As always, the only truly safe prediction about weather is, "Yeah, we'll get some."

15 Ah, I was thinking of the more mixed foliage in, say, Colorado, with the Aspens and all.  I've never been west of Glacier/Yellowstone before, and only made those in the last trip a couple years ago, so I'm not totally sure what to expect.

I just hope the waterfalls aren't all dried up; we had hoped to see a few along the Gorge, or out by Crater Lake.  I don't know if there's much that would interest us in Portland proper, other than "THE" bookstore, and even that has to compete with Amazon and public library kindle offerings these days.

16

It would take a real catastrophe for the waterfalls in the Gorge to go completely dry. Probably a lot less spectacular now than they would be in winter, but I'm sure they'll still be nice.

The storms here blow off the ocean, across the Coast range and the Valley, and then mostly blow themselves out on the west face of the Cascades. And most of the trees in that area are Douglas Fir. If you've never seen one before, you've got a pleasant surprise coming to you. They aren't as big as Redwoods but they're close.

On the east face of the Cascades, there's a lot more open ground and it isn't anything like as lush. The most common trees are Lodgepole Pine. But they aren't shoulder-to-shoulder because there isn't enough water.

Deciduous trees mostly grow in areas where humans had previously cleared the land and then abandoned it. (You also see them in the early phase of recovery of a forest fire.) The most common deciduous trees are Maples, I would say. But I've seen Aspens on State Route 202 between Jewell and Astoria. (Or at least something with white bark.)

1 You wouldn't like it in Sydney.  In mid-summer, it doesn't get that much hotter here - a few days a year of 105+  - but it can stay above 90 all night.

2

One of the few nice things about this warm snap is that it's been cooling down at night. I keep my deck door and bedroom window open, which gets a nice cross-breeze, and it cools down the apartment nicely. It acts as a heat sink the next day, so it's always cooler in here than outside even if I'm not doing anything with blocks of ice.

The other nice thing is that when it gets hot here, it's also dry. So it isn't quite so uncomfortable; sweat works well. The downside to that is increased danger of wildfire, of course, but not near me.

3 I'm visiting my son in Phoenix this week; it is a hundred-and-hot degrees.  Last night after midnight the motor in the fan in the air conditioner chunked itself and started smoking.
Remembering your solution, I found a 24 hour Walgreens and bought several pounds of ice and a box fan.
I went through about ten pounds of ice every hour, but each fresh application dropped the room temp a couple degrees -- just enough to make it bearable for my wife and get us through the night. She told me to be sure to thank you.
Thank you.

4

About 4:00 it hit 103 at the Hillsboro Airport, so I'm glad I ordered ice. I've got an order in for more for tomorrow. And then the heat is going to ease off.

Now the good news: no fires in the last couple of days.

5 They also had a bunch of firefighters tied up with those jackasses on St. John's Bridge, though they're cleaning up now.  MAX is also running slow due to the heat.  I'm glad I don't have to commute over the river today.

6

I just read about that. Wonder what they think they mean by "Portland Sound"? There ain't no such best.

I assume it's Swan Island. That's where the shipyard is, and the drydocks.

7

According to this, it's gone now.

Oh, and today's word is "Kayaktivist."

8

dammit, I've been having more and more trouble with typos lately, especially on my left hand.

"There ain't no such beast."

9

Oh, so those idiots were pulling their crap in your corner of the world.

Those dolts are also the ones who do not understand the Rules of the Road for ships are there for good reason...

10 I think they understood the rules for waterways just fine; their intention was to close the Willamette to navigation.  They were pretty much just forming a chain of people across a highway, except it was on the river.

11 The "kayaktivists" were definitively breaking the law and the rules, but I guess people hanging from ropes on bridges is kind of a grey area, other than creating a disturbance.

12

Would it be crude to suggest that had the cops cut the rope of one of those rapellers, the rest of them, and, presumably, the kayakers, would've probably dispersed right quick?

And if that wasn't enough to get the kayakers out, a paraphrase of Mr Prosser's quote from the beginning of HHGTTG would've most likely done the trick.  "Do you have any idea how much that icebreaker would suffer if I let it run right over you?"

13

These are the kind of dolts who think causing a fully-loaded oil tanker or (Better yet.) LNG carrier to run aground at the harbor entrance is a great idea.  And harassing Native American tribes conducting tribal rituals at sea is just fine (Amusingly enough, I think the way the Indian treaties are written would justify the tribes shooting at said white interlopers.).

I think they understood the rules for waterways just fine; their intention was to close the Willamette to navigation.  They were pretty much just forming a chain of people across a highway, except it was on the river.

I would not be so sure about all of them.  There was at least one incident where a Sea Shepherd maniac (Not that they come in any different kind.) on a jet ski was harassing an Indian ceremony at sea, when the idiot ran his jet ski right of one of the USCG boats guarding the ceremony and sent the dolt for a dunk in the water.  The actually complained that the USCG crew had violated the Rules of the Road, despite the video tape showing that the Sea Shepherd had deliberately did it himself.

14 We are too civilized to respond effectively here, and it may be a good thing. I remember how a couple of years ago Russian commandos re-captured a Russian tanker off the Horn of Africa. Then they politely asked the surviving pirates to board their vessels and go home. Then they used them for target practice. The official story was that "pirates were released but for unknown reason they did not reach their ports". Pretty efficient, but if we allow stuff like that happening in America... Oh wait, we already do. The War On Drugs. That one is turning out wonderfuly, isn't it?

1 Mis-typed first entry...

If it gets much hotter, you won't be smelling something your neighbor is barbecuing, you'll be smelling your neighbor barbecuing...

1 I've tried their pre-fab enchilada sauce pouches.  The red was okay. The green was more travesty-ish.  

2

 Unlike most of the travesties I document here, this was actually pretty good.  

Wait...you've been trolling us? And here I thought it was my terrible cooking skills. Well played Mr. Den Beste. Well played.

1 Isn't it amazing how, all over the country, people manage to set off fireworks every year without causing mass mayhem?

2 Actually, now that I think about it I can't really remember any reports of people causing major fires this way. What I remember mainly is idiots blowing off their hands and things like that.

3 Given the current conditions in California, I'm quite surprised that the massive amateur fireworks I'm hearing in my neighborhood are only triggering car alarms, not summoning fire trucks.

-j

4 A couple weeks ago, I heard a few sharp bangs, and thought to myself, "gee, it's a little early for 4th of July fireworks!"

Turns out someone tried to mug someone in the parking lot of the Benihana's that's outside my apartment window, and made a poor choice of victim. Mugger 0, self-defense concealed carry +1.

For real fun, try New Year's in Hawaii. It's unreal, unlike anything I've ever heard for sheer volume of detonating fireworks. 4th is pretty boisterous too, certainly more than here, but not on the same scale.

As for the stray fireworks, at least they ARE fireworks there. Back in Houston, Dad went up on the roof after a 4th and pulled out a .45 bullet. Came in almost vertical and didn't penetrate the roof (bullets fired up have pretty terrible ballistic qualities coming back down). Mind you, with ammo prices like they are, I don't expect there's nearly as much of that these days.