Heat (Sandpoint: insurance, house, living)

[Boone1791]

Man, it's HOT! It's been up in the high 90s, pushing 100 for days. Do summers always get this hot up here around the Sandpoint area, or is this kind of an exceptional heat wave? Fortunately it cools down into the low 60s or high 50s overnight, which is some relief, but the days are brutal out there!

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I suspect that there is nowhere in the country that doesn't get up around 100 degrees for a week or two in the summer. Or, at least, very few places. Being far north doesn't protect you from hot weather.

But yes. I agree with you. It's been miserably hot. I'm grateful for my air conditioning.

[Mister Torgue]

This is amusing. I was just thinking, “man I’d love to get away from here and enjoy the cool nights up in NID”. I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective.

If you think those 90s with no heat index and lows below 70 degrees (sometimes below 60!) at night are bad I suggest you never come to Texas anytime from May through early Oct. Forget that wuss desert “heat”, you see in AZ or NV haha, humidity down here is ridiculous and puts that dry heat to shame. And it isn’t just Houston with high humidity either, Dallas / Fort Worth has pretty high humidity itself. To put it in perspective up there it cools off at night, like I said below 70 (or 60), try being somewhere where the low temp never leaves the 80s so by the time the sun comes up it’s already 85 with a heat index of over 90. By 10am it’s 90 or more and a heat index of over 100. You wake up to a sauna everyday and it’s miserable. You all are lucky up there it cools off at night! It’s so hot here at night you don’t even want to sit outside.

Not trying to be an ass, just putting it all in to perspective.

[f5fstop]

Lived in Moab for almost seven years, this time of the year it is hitting 105+ outside of town; but it is dry and that sure did help.
Here yesterday it was 93 and dry, but didn't feel as dry as the desert. And I love hot/dry weather. If it wasn't for my two very furry Malamutes, I most likely would have have had central AC installed when I moved here.

Lived in TN for seven years....talk about hot and humid. Temps usually in the 90s but humidity through the roof. I'll take the hot and dry any day over hot and humid.

As for Houston, once read it was the number one city for antiperspirant sales; which went along with the fact it was also listed as one of the cities with the highest humidity levels.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Over 100 for 3rd day now, and high monsoon humidity. Nighttime temps above 73F. Wearing a mask is torture. Greetings from inland SoCal.

[banjomike]

Idaho goes through several-year cycles of hot summers. Once one comes, usually the next 2 or 3 will be hotter than usual too. The last hot cycle was 2005-2009.

After 5 years of unusually cool summers, I've been expecting a new cycle to come around. 95 was the official high here yesterday, but my deck thermometer registered 101. Gonna be hotter today, 97º, and all this week will be in the 90s.

I'm hoping for a bit of monsoon rain. This heat has made the state cracklin' dry, and some rain would decrease the fire danger.

If we get 2-3 days of high winds, Idaho could explode in fire from top to bottom right now.

If your house is surrounded by pine trees, it's a real good time to get a Pulaski or two right now. Cheap fire insurance.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Idaho goes through several-year cycles of hot summers. Once one comes, usually the next 2 or 3 will be hotter than usual too. The last hot cycle was 2005-2009.

After 5 years of unusually cool summers, I've been expecting a new cycle to come around. 95 was the official high here yesterday, but my deck thermometer registered 101. Gonna be hotter today, 97º, and all this week will be in the 90s.

I'm hoping for a bit of monsoon rain. This heat has made the state cracklin' dry, and some rain would decrease the fire danger.

If we get 2-3 days of high winds, Idaho could explode in fire from top to bottom right now.

If your house is surrounded by pine trees, it's a real good time to get a Pulaski or two right now. Cheap fire insurance.

All depending on where you are, don't count on your local fire department to show up if there is a fire in your area and you are outside city limits. We subscribe to annual fire protection because our place is rural.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by banjomike

......If your house is surrounded by pine trees, it's a real good time to get a Pulaski or two right now. Cheap fire insurance.

For anyone who is new to living near forest, I advise you to maintain defensible space around your house. Keep combustibles back away from your buildings. Keep the grass and weeds cut short.


If you have questions about it, I'm sure there is something on google and, besides that, your local fire station will have some literature and might be willing to send someone around to look at your place and give you advice.


Defensible space makes the firefighter's job much easier and it might save your house and buildings from burning to nothing but a bit of charcoal. Forest fires burn hot and there isn't much left after they pass.

[ben young]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I suspect that there is nowhere in the country that doesn't get up around 100 degrees for a week or two in the summer. Or, at least, very few places. Being far north doesn't protect you from hot weather.

But yes. I agree with you. It's been miserably hot. I'm grateful for my air conditioning.

47 years here in Pittsburg NH and NEVER been to ninety 90 degrees. 89 once.one day.

[Cnynrat]

Originally Posted by Boone1791

Man, it's HOT! It's been up in the high 90s, pushing 100 for days. Do summers always get this hot up here around the Sandpoint area, or is this kind of an exceptional heat wave? Fortunately it cools down into the low 60s or high 50s overnight, which is some relief, but the days are brutal out there!

In my experience (this is our 5th summer here), it's not unusual to have 1 or 2 periods each summer with weather like we've been having recently. It doesn't happen every summer, but it's not unheard of either. It most often seems to last for a week or so at a stretch. And as you say, one of the things that helps make it bearable is that overnight temps usually are quite comfortable.

I'd also note that at our place out towards the eastern end of Sagle we haven't seen high 90's this summer. My high temp for the summer is 94.6, which was on July 31st. I run a very accurate thermometer (+/- 0.2 degrees), which is much more accurate than most home thermometers or weather stations. We aren't on the lake, but might be close enough that it helps moderate our temperature extremes.

Dave