Weather It Is (Extreme Heat)

Good Morning:

Today's heat will be but a prelude to Wednesday and Thursday extreme-extremes.

High pressure will expand northward from Africa while low pressure pushes northwest from Saudia Arabia. Combined, they will bring us some of the worst heat in decades.  In fact, temperatures should be two to three degree higher than they were in last week's heat. While there is still some spread in the global ensemble forecast, it is only a matter of a degree and not effect.

High temperatures should be in the upper 30s on Wednesday in the central mountains while down in the coastal plain temperatures will be in the low 40s (and even reach as much as 105 F).  Temperatures in the Jordan and Dead Sea Valleys will be in the mid 40s.  In contrast, the city of Eilat will probably have temperatures in the mid to upper 30s, in response to "cooling" sea breezes.

The high temperatures should peak on Wednesday, and conditions in the coastal cities could become unbearable as night approaches, humidities rise a bit, and temperature remain in the low to mid 30s.

Thursday will start a cooling trend, but heat advisories will still be needed in many places, and even though temperatures may not be extreme--extreme, they will still be dangerously hot.

By Friday and Shabbat, temperatures should be comfortable, if not feel a bit chilly.

They say: "if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen." One wonders, then, why so many men brave the kitchen, especially before holidays when the pressure cooker is really going.

I learned something interesting the other day.  It turns out that men bring their work skills to the kitchen. For instance, scientists will try their hand at baking while lawyers will do the cooking (i.e., things that need slathering rather than measuring). Of course, the picture of our firemen at the grill is only too familiar.

This must be very frustrating to the women-folk who must feel that they are dealing - at times -- with children, but of the kind that never grow up.  After all, we all know that we tolerate our children's learning curve because their curve is headed up.  In contrast, the learning curve of a husband is pretty much flat, and there isn't much wives can do about it.

And, so it goes: the husband wants to be helpful -- and his cakes may even taste and smell better than the stuff he makes in the chemistry lab -- but in the end: he's in the way (as in "your in my way.").

On a positive note: I learned how to make the best Yogurt in the country (through experimentation) and I now know that putting honey in bread batter makes them heavy (more like honey cake than bread).

Barry Lynn