Its the middle of summer and we are all trying to find ways to stay cool. Here are 23 tips to help keep you cool, while trying to keep your electricity bill down.- Put up Sun Blockers - When the air outside is dry and cooler than the air inside, hang a damp sheet in an open window. Incoming breezes are cooled by the evaporating air.
- Block the Sun - Closing curtains and blinds can reduce the amount of heat that passes into your home by as much as 45%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
- Make a makeshift air conditioner - If it's hot but not humid, place a shallow bowl of ice in front of a fan and enjoy the breeze. As the ice melts, then evaporates, it will cool you off.
- Give your AC some TLC - Clean or replace the filter in room and central air contiioners about once a month during the summer. If you have central AC, have the ducts checked for leaks, which can reduce a system's efficiency by as much as 15%.
- Close the damper - While running any kind of air conditioner, shut your fireplace damper. An open one will pull hot air into your house.
- Close everything else, too - Whether the AC is on or off, keep windows and doors shut if the temperature outside is more than 77°. Whenever the outside air temperature is hotter than the inside air, opening a window invites heat to creep in.
To read the other 17 tips, take the jump to the article from RealSimple.com.
Do you have tips for beating the heat? Leave them in the Comments section.
As is usual this time of the year for southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and northwest Tennessee fronts don't push through very often. It looks like we will see a decaying cold front stall out right over the top of the area for Saturday, Sunday, and maybe Monday.The Storm Prediction Center seems to think there will be a chance for some severe storms around the area.Here is the Day 2 Outlook from the SPC. This covers the time range from 7am Saturday through 7am Sunday.
Their discussion hints at the possibility of a line of storms forming a bow echo and moving through southern Illinois later Saturday evening. Before this happens, with warm temperatures and relatively high dew points (in the lower 70°'s) we could see scattered thunderstorms developing near the stalled out front. I think damaging wind would be the main threat from the pop-up thunderstorms.Here is the Day 3 Outlook from the SPC. This covers the time range from 7am Sunday through 7am Monday.
SPC's forecasters seem to think that a complex of storms could be going on early Sunday morning... then pushing east in to southern Indiana/northern Kentucky. Then during the afternoon, there could be more scattered thunderstorm development.
Hopefully, we don't have too much going on late Sunday morning. I'm working for Laura Wibbenmeyer Sunday morning, plus my normal shifts. So that means I get to handle all weather duties from noon Saturday through Sunday night. I would like to be able to go home Sunday morning after the Weekend Breakfast Show and take a nap before having to come back in Sunday afternoon.Stay tuned...
Stumbled across a pretty good air fare deal on American Airlines' website this evening. You can fly one way from Chicago (O'hare), IL to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for as little as $75 one-way.The stipulations for the deal are that you have to stay a minimum of 2 days and a maximum stay of 30 days.Of course, the price listed above is before international fees. The cheapest I could find was for $75 outbound on a Thursday and $81 inbound on a Saturday. Taxes and fees are another $116.62 for a total of $272.62.If you want to try to find the cheap rates for this deal, I recommend flying out on a Thursday and flying back on a Saturday.
UPDATE: I found flights out of St. Louis starting at $99 one-way. Friday's seemed to be one of the cheaper days.
The Storm Prediction Center has issued Severe Thunderstorm Watch #547. The watch is in effect until 8:00pm CT Saturday evening.A watch means that conditions are favorable for the development of thunderstorms capable of producing large hail, damaging winds, and dangerous lightning.
A line of thunderstorms is expected to move in from the west later this afternoon/evening. The main threat from the line of storms appears to be damaging wind.Ahead of the line, isolated thunderstorms are popping up across the area. This trend will continue for the next several hours. The SPC mentions in the watch that the area near the Mississippi River and Ohio River should be watched closely for thunderstorms that could produce an isolated tornado.Thunderstorms are expected to move slightly north of east at 35mph.If you are going to be out and about this evening, remember that you can always access StormTeam Digital Doppler on your cell phone by going to www.mykfvs.com. If you have a cell phone with a full internet browser (i.e. iPhone), you can access StormTeam Digital Doppler by going to www.kfvs12.com.
Mother Nature could be bringing her own fireworks for the 4th of July. For some, (me) that might not be bad as there isn't a firework show in downtown Cape Girardeau this year. (I always end up working the 4th of July and usually just go in to the station parking lot to watch the fireworks before Heartland News at 10pm.)The Storm Prediction Center has all of southeast Missouri, southeast Illinois, western Kentucky, northwest Tennessee, northeast Arkansas, and southwest Indiana in a "Slight Risk" for seeing severe weather.The below outlook is valid through 7am Sunday.
A warm front will begin to lift northeast through the area later this morning. As it does so, there could be a few isolated strong to severe thunderstorms develop along and ahead of the front. If a strong thunderstorm can develop, it could become a supercell thunderstorm which would be capable of producing large hail. Also, an isolated tornado can't be ruled out along the warm front.Later today/this evening we will see a cold front pass through the region. Along and head of the front, we expect to see a line of storms develop. The main threat with the line of storms will be damaging winds. Storms are estimated to move east at 30 mph.Below is a look at the probabilistic damaging winds forecast.
If you are heading out to the lake, to go camping, a picnic, or plan on attending a fireworks display tonight you might want to check the forecast before you go.Also a reminder... You can access Digital Doppler on your cell phone by going to www.mykfvs.com. (If you have a full web browser on your phone (iPhone, etc) go to www.kfvs12.com.)
The beat of local, national, and international has been beating fast a furious over the last couple of weeks.
One thing I have noticed from all of the news is sometimes the lack of news from international stories. For example, have you heard much about the coup in Honduras? Probably not.I have a couple of theories as to why there hasn't been much covered with this story. - The 3 Deaths (they always come in three's).
- Ed McMahon
- Farrah Fawcett
- Michael Jackson
The Michael Jackson story has equaled HUGE ratings for television networks. As it should in my opinion. It is a huge story and a huge loss that has a global reach. - The coup in Honduras story also occurred over a weekend. Have you seen network tv/ 24/7 "news" networks on the weekends? It is all re-runs and talking heads. Very little new "news" is being shown. I am sure this is primarily due to the economy. It is expensive to keep producers, reporters, photographers, anchors, production technicians, and engineers working over the weekend. Especially when they can just throw on a re-run of the life of prisoners in "Lockup".
- I think the biggest reason for the lack of news is the cut-back by the US news networks of the international bureaus. For over a decade the networks have been taking people out of their foreign offices. Some even closing them. Now you might have one producer, a reporter, and a photographer covering an entire continent. That makes it hard to jump on stories when they happen.
Do I think this is a good thing? Absolutely not. International news is important, especially in a global community.Do I see this changing? Not anytime soon. Networks are in the business of making money. Staffing foreign offices with 10-15 people and paying for the office space is not cheap.I would enjoy hearing your thoughts. Do you want to see international news? Do you think it is important?
The Storm Prediction Center has issued Severe Thunderstorm Watch #432 for parts of southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, northeast Arkansas, northwest Tennessee, and southwest Indiana. The watch is in effect until 5:00pm CT.
The main threat will be damaging winds from the line of storms.
The Storm Prediction Center has issued Severe Thunderstorm Watch #430 for parts of eastern Missouri (including southeast Missouri) and southwestern Illinois. The watch is in effect until 6:00am CT Tuesday.A large complex of storms is moving east across the state of Missouri. You can see in the above image that the entire line is already starting to bow. The main threat from the line that is moving east will be damaging winds.
I think the storms will start to move in the the "Heartland Counties" around 3:00am'ish.
Storms are expected to move east at 45mph.
