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ROADS MELTED
Distance between Carnarvon and Kalbarri: about 445 kilometres (or 276 miles). Estimated driving time, if one obeys posted limits: five hours fifteen minutes.
A friend called earlier today after completing the Carnarvon-Kalbarri run in two hours fifty-seven minutes. Driving a rented Toyota Camry. Similar Fisk-like speeds aren’t possible in scorching Britain:
Roads have begun to melt and fans and air conditioning are placing massive demands on electricity suppliers as forecasters predict an all-time record high temperature for Britain tomorrow, when the mercury could nudge 38C.
Don’t they have the equivalent of state troopers in Australia? Another reason to immigrate to the antipodes!
In the UK, it may be true that pedestrians are getting stuck in the melting roads like so many saber-tooth cats in the La Brea tar pits, but relief is at hand, because, as the story relates, “ . . . the big heat could all end tomorrow night, when thundery storms are forecast for the south west of England . . .”
Thundery storms? Accompanied by “lightningish” bolts, I suppose?
Canadians also melting as the temperature tops (swoon) 35 deg C in the interior.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 07 19 at 12:13 PM • permalinkOK, I had to read the Times article to get the context. Britains use tar on their roads, like much of the world. Probably with a lower melting point than what I’m used to, but still just tar. But I had to wonder if they used marshmellows or some such.
38 C (~100 F) is no joke (we get that here throughout the summer), especially for non-acclimated people, but that’s hardly the condition for “melting roads”!
Talk about hyperbole.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 07 19 at 12:23 PM • permalinkEh, a couple of weeks ago a friend and his wife drove from Galena, Oh to Wichita, Ks. They made the trip in just under 11.5 hours.(925miles) Granted, that’s only a 80 mph average, but that includes gas stops and anyone who ever drove I-70 knows about the construction and the Indianapolis, St Louis, Kansas City traffic. Did the drive in his 04 Subaru Legacy GT Limited. His wife said she tried not to look at the speedometer after she saw it pass 110 at one point. If I do that same route, it takes me at least 13 hours, plus I see troopers about every 5 miles. Beats me how he pulled it off.
Posted by jeff mccabe on 2006 07 19 at 12:24 PM • permalinkWusses. In Richmond, we’ve hit 110 degrees Farenheit without the roads melting. What the heck do they use over there?
And I’d rather have it hot than 23 degrees with the snow and sleet blowing sideways, playing dodge the dunces on the way to work.
Elizabeth
Imperial KeeperPosted by Elizabeth Imperial Keeper on 2006 07 19 at 12:25 PM • permalinkOh, okay, they use tar instead of asphalt. I was starting to wonder.
Elizabeth
Imperial KeeperPosted by Elizabeth Imperial Keeper on 2006 07 19 at 12:31 PM • permalinkJust checked the weather here today. Supposed to hit 105 today (41C) but cool off to 91 tomorrow (33C) Looking forward to tomorrows cool weather.
Posted by jeff mccabe on 2006 07 19 at 12:32 PM • permalink#7: Elizabeth, I’m with you. I remember this past week-end in Richmond: went to the park, and even the squirrels were layin’ low. But no matter how hot, I prefer it to the icy, sleety cold. The only good thing about the cold weather is that it gives me the opportunity to deck myself out in one of my double-breasted overcoats and trademark fedoras; on the other hand, in particularly inclement winter weather, I have to say it’s difficult to maintain a my preferred mode of sinister elegance when doing pratfalls on the sidewalk.
It’s safe to assume that he could average 92 mph because it’s wide open, low traffic, rural-ish road, right? So you’re telling me that a wide-open stretch of freeway has an average speed limit of about 52 mph? You can’t be serious. No one really goes the limit then, right?
Fun fact: West Texas interstates now have a speed limit of 80 mph.
Denver weather check: 93 degrees. Roads still intact--but for how long?!
Posted by Matt in Denver on 2006 07 19 at 01:13 PM • permalinkYeah, paco, crawling along the sidewalk isn’t my preferred mode either. After all, at my age my dignity is the only thing I have left.
Elizabeth
Imperial KeeperPosted by Elizabeth Imperial Keeper on 2006 07 19 at 01:16 PM • permalinkthe mercury could nudge 38
That’s nothing - the temperature here was 99 yesterday.
Oh, wait - they don’t use Fahrenheit....? ;-p
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2006 07 19 at 02:17 PM • permalink#12 - are you sure about that? ;-p
#14 - that’s the suggest minimum now.
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2006 07 19 at 02:21 PM • permalinkLast year about this time I was in Kuwait and it was 55+ celcius mid-day and 38 at 9:00 am.
Heh! So was I, and didn’t those temperature just suck? Especially on those days when the winds shifted from the northwest (over the land) to from the east (over the ocean). Within 20 miles of the coast, the humidity jumped from 5% to 95% overnight.
And I’m with y’all—easier to stay warm in cold weather than cool in hor weather.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 07 19 at 03:04 PM • permalink#16. That, and the feeling of bewilderment standing in the wreckage from my house remodeling. Now I’m trying to figure out where to put the bookcase when the laminate people come August 3. You’d better watch out, or I’ll make you come over and help!
Elizabeth
Imperial KeeperPosted by Elizabeth Imperial Keeper on 2006 07 19 at 03:18 PM • permalink"Now” meaning they changed the signs this month to say “Speed Limit 80” because they realized that’s how fast everyone was going over 75 anyway. Those signs look great.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/06/tx_speed_limit.html
Posted by Matt in Denver on 2006 07 19 at 03:47 PM • permalinkThey’re complaining about 38C in England? What a bunch of pansies. We warmed up, here in Dallas, to 107F (~41.7C) yesterday but we could only manage a measely 102F (~38.9C) today. I remember hitting a string of 110F+ (~43.3C) days with a peak of 114F (~45.6C) in my youth.
Clearly global warming ain’t what it used to be.
Australia has an assortment of speed limits. It is possible to travel only a few kilometres and have to make sure you are not speeding in zones which run from 20kph through 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and on the open road you can do 80, 90, 100 and in some liberated places, where there is dual carriageway with a median strip and it’s signed as such, we can let ourselves fly along at 110kph. Apparently in the Northern Territory there is no speed limit, however the Australian limit is now 100kph on open roads and 50 in built up areas (unless otherwise signed).
Personally, I wish the wallopers were visible (instead of hiding in cars and taking photos of speeding motorists), and start booking tailgaters, weavers and those that drive by Zen.
Our roads do melt, but you don’t usually notice it until a huge truck does a donut on the road and chews it up.
A Moonbat co-worker of the green variety emailed me yesterday after a third straight day of 100 degrees in Jersey.
“See, Global Warming!!!”
“Hmmm”, I replied..."the record was set in ‘52. If it was warming up globally, shouldn’t the record have been set last year?”
Him..."Never mind, it’s just too freakin’ hot”
In the UK, it may be true that pedestrians are getting stuck in the melting roads like so many saber-tooth cats in the La Brea tar pits, but relief is at hand, because, as the story relates, “ . . . the big heat could all end tomorrow night, when thundery storms are forecast for the south west of England . . .”
Yeah, but once the roads start hardening out again, those poor pedestrians will be stuck forever!
Well, PW at least we know we won’t have to swerve.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 07 19 at 08:20 PM • permalink#11—matt in denver, I’m from the Montana prairies (way up where there are no Interstates) & drove out there then down through Grand Junction, Denver, Dallas, Houston, then over through the swamps to Jax. I LOVED driving Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma & Texas! Wouldn’t drive I-95 that way, but them 80mph limits are for me.
Remember when we didn’t have speed limits? Weren’t we supposed to be out of oil & doing the Mad Max thing by now?
I’ll never forget my older cousin in Chinook, Montana pressing her foot into the street & leaving a print...I think I was about 9. I’ve seen 100F on July 4th one year, and 45F on another. I’ve seen it snow on the prairies a few miles west of there in August. Montana has such a variety of weather!
Apparently in the Northern Territory there is no speed limit, however the Australian limit is now 100kph on open roads and 50 in built up areas (unless otherwise signed).
No, in WA the open road limit is still 110 km/h (though the ferals in Canberra are pressuring us to drop it to 100)—and that on some of the goat tracks that pass for major ‘highways” here. The Kalbarri—Carnarvon road passes through some of the most mind-numbingly boring countryside on the continent. But averaging those speeds is lunacy; there may not be too many plods around (though you only need one!), but there are numerous woolly, hairy, furry things that will happily hop, leap, trot, gallop or amble in front of your vehicle.
Anyone ever heard the Flying Lizards’s verion of “Sex Machine”? I always think of it every
time I come across the name “Get Up!”Get up
Get on up
Get up
Get on up
Get up
Get on up
(repeat monotonically many times)Posted by stuartcooper on 2006 07 19 at 11:01 PM • permalinkJuly, 1956, my Dad and I came back outside after lunch about one or so. I tried to turn the crank on the tractor so that we could go back to the field to work the ground. The crank was so hot that it burned my hand through my leather glove. I let go in a hurry with a surprised look. Dad reached over with a grin and grabbed the crank. He let it go too. We went over an looked at the old mercury thermometer hanging on the yard-light pole. It was 126… and it was hanging in the shade. That was the only time Dad ever said “That’s just too hot. Lets go back to the house”. And we didn’t have air conditioning in those days, just electric fans.
I happened to be in London one day in the 60s when the locals were bleating about the heat. I can’t remember the temperature reached but it was less than the century, an Aussie’s yardstick for bleating.
However, they must use low melting-point tar because it was definitely melting. It was sticking to the tyres of cars and tracks were being left on the road surface.
The Tower Bridge was opened to let a boat through and they couldn’t get it closed because the hinged thingies expanded with the heat while they were open. Traffic chaos ensued because of the blocked bridge and cars getting stuck to roads.
The Brits did not refrigerate foodstuffs in those days and the milk was going sour in the supermarkets.
Not surprising when you think how close England is to the North Pole. The place is barely habitable, really.
If only we had known then that global warming had started and things would get steadily better for the Brits.445km, 5 hours = 89kph. Posted speed limit 110 kph.
445km, 3 hours = 148 kph. - Not smart, but in a good car not really dangerous.
Ive had a ‘98 1.5 litre nissan pulsar holding 140 kph on those roads. A newer rental camry would piss it in.
Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2006 07 20 at 01:06 AM • permalinkRentals only go faster because I dont have to pay for repairs to the driveline.
Everyone knows red ones go faster, but quicker is better than faster, unless you live in the territory…
Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2006 07 20 at 07:53 AM • permalinkYou ecofascists just don’t want to admit this is solid (okay, gooey) proof of global warming! How many reports of melting roads do we have from that ‘so-called Medieval Warm Period’ you’re always going on about? Hah? Hah?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 20 at 10:18 AM • permalink
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My wife is 38C. I’m very happy.