Climate change? Heat dome? Or too much whining?
For the past three or four weeks we’ve been hit with temperatures routinely in the 90s that on a few days almost reached triple digits. May is supposed to be our hottest month, but that has meant highs in the 80s, with only a few days in the 90s.
The continuing hot spell—today we’re supposed to have a high of 95 degrees—has the locals, both Mexicans but particularly expats, in a bit of a tizzy.
At Don Pedro hardware, split-level air conditioners, fans and any other air-moving devices, have been flying out the door like baguettes at a French boulangerie early in the morning.
Yesterday the word got out that Costco in Querétaro was having a barn-burner sale on upright fans. Lucky shoppers wheeled around the store, some visibly gloating, with as many as six units in their carts. Alas, by ten o’clock all the fans were gone and disgruntled shoppers pressed store personnel when more fans would be arriving.
On the Civil List, the expat bulletin board in San Miguel, offers have appeared for swamp coolers and homemade ideas like placing bags of ice in front of a fan and such, that sounded like stuff from a junior high school science fair. Instead of the usual raves for some new restaurant, Civil Listers are asking which have air conditioning. The answer: Just a handful, for very few restaurants and stores offer such luxury.
Over the weekend, Stew went to Remo’s cheese shop to look for some gelato and gnocchi and the woman who waited on him said that she and Edgar, the other employee, handled the heat by taking turns sitting in the cooler in the back of the store.
Much of this hoo-hah over the heat here is just that, Texans would tell you. Come summer, in cities like Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Houston—an area I’ve officially christened America’s Broiler Belt©—temperatures regularly climb to the low one-hundreds, and people cope by dashing from air-conditioned homes to offices, cars and restaurants with little grumbling. In fact, Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., so who’s worrying about the heat?
Problem is that in San Miguel, where we are supposed to be blessed with a near-perfect climate, we are spoiled. Our house is of adobe construction with insulated concrete roofs, along with cross ventilation that includes vented skylights. Concrete flat roofs common in much San Miguel construction function as heat traps during the day that radiate the heat back down to the interior at night.
Our hilltop location on the countryside also helps, compared to the center of town where houses are huddled together in a low-lying, heat-trapping bowl. At the ranch late-afternoon breezes also cool every room at night when temperatures drop. We’ve also developed the habit of closing windows and blinds in the morning to keep the interior cool. So San Miguel summers had been little more than a brief inconvenience to us.
The upturn in temperatures appears to be connected to similar extremely hot conditions in other parts of Mexico, which have killed at least 60 people so far, and also affecting large swaths of the U.S. reaching down to the lower tip of Florida.
I haven’t found any statistics that would neatly show an upward curve in annual temperatures over the past ten or fifteen years and thus a permanent change in our climate. But 2024 sure seems ready to claim the record for high temperatures.
Clearer signs of a changing climate may be the dropping water levels at the reservoirs around San Miguel. The main one, the “Presa” is down to one-third its normal size and another one near the town of Jalpa is on the edge of disappearing. Those are not good omens.
A friend whom I suspect is a particularly heat-sensitive sort, installed five split-level units to cool down whichever corner of the house she might be occupying during the day. Another gushed to me that air conditioning her bedroom was “divine.”
So this year Stew braved the conga line at Don Pedro and bought a small split-level air conditioner/heater for our bedroom, which has improved our sleep markedly. No guilt feelings either about carbon footprints from electric generating plants or that our added consumption might further stress out the wheezy electric system in San Miguel, which has conked out a couple of times already.
And after sleeping in an air-conditioned bedroom for a couple of nights, I must agree with my friend that it feels “divine.” So divine in fact, we might put another one in the office.
El Rancho Santa Clara 
at our age, do as many splits as u can. U guys seem to be doing well and Stew is back at it. We r off to Chicago end of month and sometime in CDMX soon for my jewelry business. Catch up sometime when we get back…Nancy and Steven
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“At (y)our age?” That dreaded phrase often used by doctors to suggest you ought to be grateful to be standing up. We just came back from Chicago and it was glorious. Wonderful spring weather and discovering how much the city has changed. Great restaurant$$$ too. Wrigleyville, our old neighborhood, is practically unrecognizable, and so is the West Loop. Jeannie Gang’s tall, curvy building is spectacular. Great to hear from you.
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One of the neatest home made solutions I’ve seen was a small house plant vendor in Phoenix many years ago. He walled in the back porch of his house. The east wall was layers of burlap hanging from gutters dripping with water. The west wall was lined with huge exhaust fans. The north wall was all windows. In reality you were inside a large evaporative cooler, surrounded by lush green house plants. Very cool and relaxing.
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That sounds like a cross between the Gardens of Babylon and Sanford and Son. LOL. Pretty ingenious though. What did the neighbors think. If I recall, you live in Arizona, whose weather calls for all the ingenuity you can summon.
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Love it. Had to send my electrician to Celaya Costco to get the ‘last mini-split’ for 2 weeks? He was probably gloating, I’ll simply be grateful when the bedroom is ‘divine’ too. C
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Costco right now supposedly has a two-month backlog of orders of mini-splits. We got ours at Don Pedro, and didn’t have any problems because we got the smallest unit, I think a one-ton. Also a huge ceiling fan for the living room. Hope to visit your mansionette one of these days.
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Or you could move here where it’s been in the 70’s- 80’s ( high of 83 a couple of times), plenty of rain so everything is lush and waterfalls are massive! 😜Lynn
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You are a cruel woman, gloating in our misery. We’re planning a trip to that bum-f*** town of yours toward the end of July, beginning of August. We will then go to the animal shelter and adopt a crazy dog like Domino and leave it at your place.
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Is your ranch ‘off grid’ electricity? Do you have battery storage? Wonderful not to share power outages that are common in hottest days.
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Yes, we’re off the grid and our battery system is in the process of being upgraded. And that has saved us from the blackouts they’ve been having in San Miguel and other parts of Mexico because of extraordinarily high demand. Thanks
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Good Lord, it has been quite a toasty month! Now I remember why I used to leave April 15th and return June 10th for years and years…….along with leaving Jan 6th and returning the end of February to avoid the cold! I lived in HOT weather with HUMIDITY for 49 years while I was raising a family, dealing with hurricanes and operating several businesses. This has been difficult, but nothing like the hot and humid summers in Louisiana and Texas. Growing up we only had ceiling fans so we learned how to sleep near a window which is what I have been doing here…A friend did give me a floor fan recently that I have in the living room. It has helped immensely…Glad y’all got a mini-split! And to see that Stew went to Remo’s and to Don Pedro’s which must mean that he is doing much better. Woo hoo! When we talk next, I have a favor to ask about when you make your next trip to Costco in Queretaro. Stay cool Barbara San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
415 124-9450 Mx Cel http://www.babsofsanmiguel.blogspot.com
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing” Helen Keller
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Stew and I have been through San Antonio’s summer last year—100 degrees and sticky humidity—and what we’re going through here is mild by comparison. See if your son John will buy you a mini-split. You’re guaranteed to sleep like a baby! Stew is doing better, he’s getting stem cell therapy from a neurosurgeon in Queretaro and that is supposed to be very helpful. I’ll let you know next time we go to Costco, though it won’t be for several weeks. Stay cool.
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I am fine. The worst is over and I am sleeping well at night.
Thanks
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Here in Mexico City with an altitude of over 7,000 feet above sea level, normally the only time the temperature reaches 80 degrees Fahrenheit is in April and May. But this year the thermometer hit 80 at the end of February, and, except for two days, it has not dropped below since then. Many days have been in the upper 80s and even 90. It is really unprecedented for Mexico City. At night the temperature does go down perhaps to 60, but the concrete buildings are like ovens and retain the heat. I have been putting a fan at night near an open window and have been able to sleep.
We have had some showers, even a few short heavy rains, but it has not really been regular or enough to relieve the drought.
The long-term forecast (if it can be believed) calls for high temperatures in the 70s in a couple weeks.
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Seven thousand feet above sea level is exactly the altitude of the ranch. In the Centro it’s a few hundred feet less. Our temperature experience has been a little more extreme than CDMX, with temperatures regularly in the 90s. Last year it was pretty much the same, maybe a little cooler. I just hope this is not the beginning of higher temperatures as a result of climate change. CDMX historically is a little damper and cooler than here. The rains this year have been barely measurable.
BTW we plan to attend the Pride parade on the 29. Are you planning to attend? If so maybe we could have dinner.
al
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I don’t know that we will be going to the parade, but that doesn’t mean that we couldn’t get together for dinner.
A Retired Teacher in Mexico City (ilovemexico2013.blogspot.com)
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The insulated roof is the key. Forward thinking is a good trait.
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Indeed it is. We learned that when living in a two-story house in town. During the summer we moved downstairs because the second floor would get so hot. One day I got on a ladder and put my hand to the ceiling in the second floor and it was radiating heat even after sundown. I imagine that even if you put an air conditioner in the bedroom on the second floor, you’d still be fighting the heat coming through the ceiling.
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