We’re in the midst of another heat wave…our second this year.
At the end of May, the temperature in Mesquite got up to 110 degrees, which is roughly ten to twenty degrees above normal. That is the temperature “breaking point” for most people out here: activity pretty much stays indoors and the air conditioners and iced drinks take over.
This week is forecast to be a scorcher, with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees for seven days straight and a high temperature of 118 degrees on Wednesday, June 16th. Yipes, that is some serious HOT!
The earth’s atmospheric temperature is warming…of that there is no doubt. 2011 to 2020 was the warmest decade ever recorded, and the six warmest years ever recorded have occurred since 2015. Air temperatures have been recorded throughout the world since the 1880’s, and since that time the overall mean temperature of the earth has increased by two degrees. That doesn’t sound like much, but that small difference has begun to shrink the polar ice caps and affect ocean currents.
Some of the by-products of this “global warming effect” have been increased droughts, increased number of severe weather events (tornadoes, hurricanes, ice/hail storms and floods) and a steadily rising sea level as polar ice sheets melt. Many people want to pretend that these changes to our climate are natural (particularly lobbyists and apologists for Big Oil), but the scientific data indicates clearly that the world’s slide toward climatological Hell coincided with the advent of the Industrial Age. We have polluted the earth’s atmosphere with exhaust from the burning of fossil fuels and this has upset the natural chemistry of the skies above us.
Out here in the Nevada high desert, we’re used to warm temperatures and low humidity. It’s a nice place to live, away from the “maddening crowds” of Southern California and other urban areas. Unfortunately, as a by-product of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is significant exodus from those urban areas (note: coughing, sneezing multitudes in crowded buildings) to more remote areas like ours with lots of elbow room and clean air. Properties are being snatched up with “California money”…there’s a friggin’ bidding war going on right now!
My best friend Lloyd has decided to cash out before the price bubble bursts. He put his home on the market last week and has received a half dozen offers already…I think he’s going to decide today. He should pocket a $150,000 profit after living here for three years.
One big problem that this retirement “paradise” will be facing, sooner or later, is the availability of water. This is the desert, after all, and there’s only one river nearby (the Virgin River). It normally flows all year round, draining the southwest corner of Utah and a bit of Arizona (the “Arizona Strip”), but that flow is normally quite modest. This year, as we begin the Summer, the Virgin River is barely flowing.
With the atmosphere getting hotter, we can expect droughts (like the one that we’re experiencing now) to be longer and more severe. Meanwhile, there are approved plans to build thousands of additional homes in Mesquite to accommodate those ex-pats from California and other states.
Question: Where are all those new folks going to get their water?
No one seems to be asking that question, not even the State or local officials that approve new residential development. Don’t they read the news? It’s getting hotter and drier…and the river is drying up! Wake up, Folks…we got problems here in River City!
Here in the Manning household we have a plan to deal with these heat waves and the inevitable water shortage: (Short-Term) We will absent ourselves from the frypan during the Summer months and enjoy the coastal air up in Oregon; and, (Long Term) We will, hopefully, die before water runs out here in Mesquite, Nevada.
Hopefully, we have ten years before the place goes to Hell.