It was a long, hot weekend. It was in the high 90s up in San Francisco, which might not sound that bad for people in parts of the country that deal with 90 degree weather all summer long, but you have to remember that almost nobody in San Francisco has air conditioning. And all the places we’d usually flock to for some respite from the heat, like movie theaters, malls, and even restaurants, are closed. Most of the nearby beaches weren’t open either so it was a really hard weekend to get through.
Saturday night was nice though. We had a social distance viewing of Mulan in my friend’s driveway (we projected the movie onto her garage wall) and the weather was beautiful. We were expecting to be bundled up in our down jackets and blankets by the time the movie ended at 9pm, but I was still wearing a tank top! It’s unusual to be able to wear a tank top in SF during the summer, and unheard of to do so after the sun sets, so that was a nice experience.
Unfortunately Sunday, the hottest day, was not so nice.
We were lucky to be invited to my mom’s friend’s pool on Sunday. It was 107* down at their house, but the water was an inviting 83* and we spent most of the day in it. But it was still so hot that the kids felt sick for much of the afternoon. It was hard to get them to eat and stay hydrated. My kids slept at my parents’ house that night, and they do have air conditioning upstairs, so they slept okay. We were struggling at our house, which felt like an oven. Luckily the downstairs, where we sleep, wasn’t as bad.
Last night the fog rolled in, but it’s still supposed to be in the high 80s up here today, and much hotter every where else. There are new fires spewing smoke into the air, and the light has a weird yellow quality to it. It looks ominous outside. We’re also dealing with rolling power outages to take pressure off the grid. Power outages make teaching and learning online really difficult…
It’s hard not to let the stress accumulate when these difficult situations drag on and on. The first fires started three weeks ago, right at the start of school, and they never properly resolved before new fires started. Three weeks of fluctuating air quality, when going outside is the only thing you can do besides being stuck at home, really starts to wear.
I really hope things get better soon. I’m just trying to accept things and take it one day at a time.
Ugh the fires and subsequent air quality fluctuations, in addition to the heat wave, and the pandemic, it’s just such a massive combination of too much. We were lucky that we managed to stay just cool enough with our fans in the open spaces of our home and entirely avoiding the really hot half for the entire day so we were just all sweaty, gross and mildly grumpy. Thank goodness for the return of the fog, at least.
If only the fires could at least stop (and people could stop being so dang reckless), so we aren’t totally trapped indoors, that would go a long way.
We were absolutely miserable. Couldn’t open windows Sunday due to smoke. I broke down and ordered a portable AC since 3 of the past 4 weekends in a row we have had a heat wave. (So much for the 1 or 2 days a year of unusual heat we used to get.) Thankfully the fog rolled in today, temps are 20+ °F lower than yesterday and the air quality is much better for now.