Please allow me to interject my feelings about Mother Nature

Everyone likes 69 in the morning.

 

It’s the summer of 69.

 

Fun fact: Bryan Adams was 9 years old in the Summer of '69.

 

He's a fast learner!

 

The Pfizer plant north of Rocky Mount took a direct hit from a possible F2 or F3 tornado this week.

Thankfully nobody was hurt and there's nothing else around there -- although our old duplex would have had one hell of a view. (And nowhere but the bathroom tub to hide in.)

 

Saw some concern that it might affect the supply chain for some medicines. No idea what they make there, though.

 

Currently, it is responsible for manufacturing nearly 25 percent of all Pfizer's sterile injectables – including anesthesia, analgesia, therapeutics, anti-infectives and neuromuscular blockers – which is nearly 8 percent of all the sterile injectables used in U.S. hospitals.

I'm a little closer to it that I care to admit. Obviously, huge regional story. And yeah ... it's going to affect the supply chain.

Pfizer already talking about continuing to pay employees while they continue to assess damage. Key beyond that is for insurance companies to quickly come through, help Pfizer get back on its feet in Rocky Mount and try to get back to normal in due time.

 

As someone about to get his gallbladder yanked…grrreat.

 

Pretty galling, right?

I’ll show myself out.

 

It should grow back taller than ever, right, if it's a Pfizer plant?

 

That blue right by me.

 

There are a few things at work here.

Temps in the 110 - 115 range are very common in the summer. Temps from 115 - 120 are not. Before this week I think we had only hit 119 or higher five times in history. We did it twice this week and yesterday was 118.

The old record for consecutive days hitting 110+ was 17. Yesterday was our 23rd day in a row above 110 and the streak is forecast to continue for the next week.

The old heatwave record was set in 1974, and the overnight lows back then were in the 70s. They are now in the mid 90s.

The monsoon starts here in late June/early July, so our heat gets offset by some pretty killer thunderstorms a few times a week. This year? I don't believe Phoenix has had measurable rainfall since March.

This month, barring something crazy, Phoenix is going to average 100 degrees. That's not an average high -- that's the average temperature. No American city has ever averaged 100 degrees or higher for a full month.