Labor Day Weekend typically marks the unofficial end of summer and it appears Mother Nature wants to remind you at least one more time just how awful summers in Palm Springs can be.
The National Weather Service has issued yet another excessive heat warning for the Coachella Valley for this Friday and Saturday when temperatures are expected to be in the mid to high 110s.
An Excessive Heat Watch has been issued for the desert areas from Friday morning through Saturday evening. Below are the high temperatures Friday and Saturday. Be sure to take necessary precautions to protect yourself from the heat! ?️ #cawx #heat pic.twitter.com/q6X732vYUW
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) August 28, 2019
For those looking to escape to cool off, it looks like So Cal beaches are your best bet – as temps should be in the 70s this weekend. As for those sticking around the desert, well, perhaps use the weekend as a chance to binge on a show you have been putting off as, sooner or later, it’s actually going to be nice enough to leave the house again in the Coachella Valley.
We have a fundamental problem with “heat islanding” and the stucco ‘siding’, and other heat energy absorbing materials in proximity to our house/conditioned space. Especially the stucco because even though it’s only 1″ thick, it’s immediately next to the insulated wall that is supposed to protect us from it’s radiant heat. All exterior walls should be insulated on the exterior side of the stucco using an uninterrputed layer(s) of closed cell foam or equivalent with an R value of 22 or so. The a radiant barrier, 1″ airspace and a lightweight siding such as steel, or wood on walls without sun exposure. Ditto for the roof although it’s a little more complicated.
At grade, continue board insulation horizontally, (or vertically but you have to dig more) to surround the house. The combination of these efforts will turn the whole house into an insulating panel between the Ambient air (110 F or so ?) and the “coolth” of the ground, which is lost when this isn’t done to the house.
The ground under the house will become cooler and that zone will extend right to the edge of the slab.
Try getting this passed under California code.