A few weeks ago, I got a glimpse of what the summer heat and humidity may bring. Since then, it has turned cool and decidedly less humid. Today, however, I fear may be a pivotal change from glimpse to prolonged heat and humidity. "It must be hot there today," you may be thinking. No, no it's actually cloudy, cold and rainy. The reason I suspect today may be a turning point, and not say tomorrow (when the heat is actually supposed to rise), is because rain fuels the foliage around here. Foliage that reaches woodland proportions: the poison ivy is so large as to be confused with a large bush or tree, the poison oak reaches hundreds of feet into the air on the tree that it climbs. Not to mention the myriad of ferns, moss and thousands of plant species I never even knew existed. While it makes for a beautiful, lush, green landscape, it also makes for a transpirationally* dense landscape, i.e. HUMIDITY. We're talking smack-you-in-the-face, knock-the-breath-right-outta-ya, humidity. Not to mention the fact that there is a large-ish river running through the valley, evaporation occurring at every square inch. Oh yeah, that's the other part, we're in a landlocked valley. The air doesn't have a high-peaked, mountain range or tidaling, ocean to compel it to move. That can add up to stationary, hot, humid air; ugh. As I said earlier, I caught a glimpse of this when it was upper 80's with 80%+ humidity; apparently that's nothing compared to the middle of summer. Great.
*Transpiration is the process by which plants take water from the soil, use it, then "exhale" it into the atomosphere.
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