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Americans sweltered today in the scorching heat in what was officially the hottest day of the year in scores of cities across the country. The heatwave covered a million square miles, affecting 141million Americans. New York's Manhattan experienced the hottest ever July 22 recorded, with an overwhelming 104-degree temperature in Central Park. The Washington DC region continued to be smothered in heat and humidity with temperatures reaching 102 degrees but with a heat index of more than 120 - hotter than Death Valley at daybreak

At 5:20 PM EST(4:20 local time), 7-11-2011, the Weather Underground website showed the heat index in Paducah, KY, to be 153 degrees (99 degrees with a 92 degree dew point). I've never seen it like this. (I'm in another part of the state, where the heat index is a paltry 111...I feel like a piker). Post your astounding summer weather reports here...how hot is it where you are?

Cold weather really does spread flu 12:19 19 October 2007 by Debora MacKenzie Scientists have finally confirmed what your mother knew all along - that flu spreads best in cold, dry weather. As the first few cases of the northern hemisphere's annual flu epidemic are trickling in this week, scientists may finally know why winter is flu season. It appears the virus lasts longer in cold, dry air, and our sluggish, cold-weather mucus cannot clear it out. Astonishingly it has taken until the publication of research this week to settle the basic question about how flu spreads, and why it...

While the United States has the largest consumer economy in the world, manufacturers of renewable energy products and energy-efficient machines—industries that fall under the broad category of "cleantech"—face a frustrating paradox: The greatest potential demand for their products, be they wind turbines, solar panels, super high-efficiency appliances, or computer-aided ventilation systems, is beyond our shores. Cleantech companies represent one of America's brightest hopes in terms of export potential, but suppliers in this nascent market have a number of hurdles to overcome before realizing its potential.

Winter is flu season in the world's temperate regions, but scientists still aren't sure why. Now, it turns out that the answer may have been staring them in the face all along. A reanalysis of data from past studies suggests that low absolute humidity--not low relative humidity, the factor many scientists have studied--helps the virus survive and the flu spread. Explanations abound for why flu is king in winter, only to disappear come summer. Researchers have suggested that the virus might survive better in colder temperatures, that people are more exposed when huddled indoors, and that lower melatonin and vitamin-D...

Grandma may have been right about keeping a teakettle warming on the stove in winter to moisten the air. Studies of seasonal influenza have long found indications that flu spreads better in dry air. Now, new research being published Tuesday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, indicates that the key is the absolute humidity - which measures the amount of water present in the air, regardless of temperature - not the more commonly reported relative humidity. Relative humidity varies depending on air temperature; absolute humidity doesn't. "The correlations were surprisingly strong. When absolute humidity is low, influenza virus...

Satellite Finds Warming 'Relative' To HumidityA NASA-funded study found some climate models might be overestimating the amount of water vapor entering the atmosphere as the Earth warms. Since water vapor is the most important heat-trapping greenhouse gas in our atmosphere, some climate forecasts may be overestimating future temperature increases. (go to linked article for schematic diagram) In response to human emissions of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, the Earth warms, more water evaporates from the ocean, and the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere increases. Since water vapor is also a greenhouse gas, this leads to a further increase...

Our Texas Locale page recently got very busy on the unusual topic of Ouija boards and such. Archy suggested a Lone Star Thread That Will Not Die. Like those darn Hobbit threads with 30,000+ posts.This is not my thread and I'm not going to baby sit it every day. I just gathered the kindling and y'all have to start the fire.

Landscaping most freeways part of Super Bowl plan It was just three words in a 2,500-word essay in The Economist magazine a couple of years ago, but to Charles McMahen they still sting: "Houston is ugly." Though the article about the city was largely positive, and the ugly reference was aimed broadly at Houston's sprawl, lack of zoning and other issues, McMahen cites the sentence when talking about an initiative to improve the city's gateways. "Clearly, 59 North, the Hardy Toll Road and 45 North are really in need of some work," said McMahen, chairman of the Quality of Life...

The virus of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can live for up to 15 days without the human body, Chinese scientists have discovered. According to Tuesday's China Daily, the Key Science and Technology Group under the National Task Force for SARS Control and Prevention revealed that the virus can exist in temperatures of 24 degrees Celsius for five days in patients' saliva, mucus andexcrement, 10 days in urine and 15 days in blood. It can live indoors for three days on paper, cotton cloth, wood, metal, plastic and glass surfaces and in soil. Experiments by the group indicate that the...