Posted on 07/29/2023 7:01:33 AM PDT by dennisw
Locals bake cookies in CARS and complain of melting roads Searing heatwave is forecast to bring 110F temps to Phoenix for 30th day today Even Arizona's hardy Saguaro cactuses are dying in the blistering heat Temps are hot enough to melt dog toys, bake cookies in cars, and soften roads
A searing heat wave that continues to blister much of the US is so hot that even Arizona's iconic cactuses are dying off.
In Phoenix, Saturday is forecast to be the 30th consecutive day with high temperatures above 110F, a streak that has shattered all records for the city, with fatal results.
At the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, saguaro cactuses, a symbol of the US West, are drooping, shriveling and in some cases toppling over during the record streak of extreme heat.
Residents of the area have taken to TikTok to highlight the staggering effects of the intense heat, showing cookies baking on car dashboards, rubber dog toys melting in the sun, and roads soft enough to leave footprints.
The heat wave has had deadly consequences as well, with at least 25 confirmed heat-related deaths and 249 more pending investigation in Maricopa County, the area surrounding Phoenix, so far this summer.
At the Desert Botanical Garden, plant physiologists are studying just how much heat cactuses can take.
The garden has specimens representing has over two-thirds of all cactus species, including saguaros which can grow to over 40 feet.
Until recently many, thought the plants were perfectly adapted to extreme high temperatures and drought. Arizona's heat wave is testing those assumptions.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Phoenix...
Longest stretch of 110°F or greater days 18 (12 Jun 1974 - 29 Jun 1974)
Yes. It felt good to be out of the rain.
Must add this.
https://www.weather.gov/psr/ExtremeTemps
Now look at this for past temps in Tulsa OK!
https://www.weather.gov/tsa/climo_tuljulrecrd
Do you mean we have to adapt to those hotter than usual summer days? Oh no...
I live in the 40% of Arizona that doesn’t have cactus.
Yes the Cactus looks it’s time was up due to old age.
We had a great country back then even with a $#*++y president (LBJ).
Just perusing the records for the month of July on Weather Underground, it looks hot but not a lot hotter than in times past. To be sure, there have been “cooler” Julys but it is still Phoenix in the summer.
Somebody from AZ can correct me if I’m wrong, but 110 seems like nothing for that area. Back in the 90s, in the Northern California central valley, it was routine to have temperatures hover around 105-112 pretty much every day from July through August. Summers don’t seem to be nearly that hot now.
Fer crying out loud! I did a lot of hiking in the Arizona desert in the 1970s and always saw dead saguaros laying everywhere. It’s just part of the desert.
If you live next to a forest there are dead trees everywhere unless someone can get in remove them.
so...is the cactus completely unarmed now?
Love that idea!
Of course then we’ll have a culture war over whether the hat should be a sombrero. The left will take both sides, arguing that A) a sombrero is cultural appropriation and therefore racist, and B) any hat other than a sombrero is racist.
The compromise will be no hats but every cactus gets a titanium fainting couch made by Raytheon. Raytheon will request a relaxation of sourcing controls citing a lack of trained machinists. The work will be subcontracted to Xinhaosiu Metalworks owned President Xi’s brother in law.
The press will suppress the story and everyone will be happy.
“cactuses”?
They evidently don’t have cacti in the UK.
But has it killed Valery?
Mass forest fires have consequences. Unless the forests recover then things are going to be very desert like.
Some of us were there that summer.
Best relief tactic: head to the ASU apartment pools and check out the scenery.
:^)
Saguaros are not immortal. They get old and die whether it is hot or not. More than heat, it is more than likely lack of rain this year. It finishes off the old ones that were on their last days anyhow.
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