maybe we'll hit 108 today

From the local news today:
Temperatures as high as 108 degrees are set to move into Travis County today, making it the 72nd day of triple-digit heat this year.

It is relentless, a slow motion car crash grinding up the state. 272 counties have burn bans. Right now 100% of the state is in a drought and 77% of the state is in the worst category of extreme drought. A year ago 15% of the state was in drought and none was suffering in the worst category.

Most of the lawns on our block are dead or dormant. There are a couple that a are more shaded or have owners willing to violate the water conservation rules by watering every day and so they remain green. There are dead tree leaves everywhere and bare branches. There are actual cracks in the dirt in my yard. The house on the corner by the mail box has a bit of a slope to their yard and with all the grass dead the dirt is starting to erode.

I have to admit I'm annoyed by the hurricane hysteria, even though I don't watch television news which spares me from some of the worst of it. But that is mostly to do with how it vexes me that a nice flashy disaster show will always get attention, while we continue to grind along in one of the worst droughts ever seen here. (And I get that the thing in front of you is usually the one with your attention and why should people who don't live here care about this miserable year, etc, etc, etc.) What I wouldn't give for a storm though. Everything must be relative somewhere. I must also confess my tolerance for everything dropped to zero after reading about the agricultural industry's catastrophes this year and seeing so many photos of starving cattle.

I read yesterday about how the Barton Springs salamander population is suffering and chances that they might go extinct are rising every day without rain. People who don't live here probably don't understand what a thing that is, those tiny, shy salamanders. They ignited a war between developers and environmentalists in 1990 that raged on and on through my teen years until the salamanders were given endangered species protection. They also provoked serious zoning and planning changes for the city in how it treats its green and blue spaces. It's a thing that probably doesn't matter to anyone who didn't live here.

The weather situation is so depressing. I want to hold people's heads in it until they are forced through cracked and bleeding lips to admit that climate change is real, that praying for rain isn't doing anything to help anyone but the television and things here are bad. It all makes me angry and hopeless.

That said, I'm still okay with earthquake coverage because the ground moving out from underneath you is never, ever cool.

Endless Summer and Brutal Heat

While we wait for Fall to finally arrive, we expect to see the highest temperatures of the year over the next few days. A weak frontal boundary – a cold front in name only – will actually dry out the lower atmosphere and allow temperatures to climb closer to 110 degrees Saturday and Sunday. Despite light east and northeast winds, brutal heat will bring central Texas to record highs. Heat Advisories are in effect for all of the area, and ozone levels are climbing. Air quality through the weekend will be ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive People’.

Hottest Month Ever: The average temperature for July was 89.7 degrees. July 2011 went down as the hottest month EVER in Austin yet that record is already in jeopardy: so far, the average temperature for August 2011 is 91.4 degrees.

- taken from the (formerly News 8) Your New Now weather page today.

The air isn't moving at all. A few clouds sail by, dappling shadows. I hide inside and close the blinds. I think about how much I need to develop an out of the house hobby or join a book club or start volunteering, and then the heat makes me think maybe I won't go outside after all.