Sadly, book “burning” is alive and well.
******************
Yesterday, we received some much needed rain. I don’t know if forecasting in the desert is especially difficult, but the forecasts here seem to be wrong quite a bit.
On Tuesday morning, the probability of precipitation for Wednesday was pegged at only about 20 percent. Even at 5 AM on Wednesday, it was only shown at about 30 percent. Well, it rained for most of the period between 7 AM and 2 PM. It was the best type of rain we could have received in that it was steady, but never really heavy. Let’s see if this works:
Another weather prediction that was incorrect was the daytime high, not surprising given the miss in terms of precipitation. Forecast to be in the mid-90s, this is where temperatures sat for most of yesterday afternoon:
That picture was taken at about 2 PM on our way back from a lunch run. When the rain ended and the sun returned, the temperature did break into the 80s, but never close to the 90s. Here is a more scenic photo:
The evening provided this view that I thought was amazing:
Obviously, the lack of tall trees makes capturing scenes like this easier, but I also think they are more common here than in the mid-Atlantic.
******************
The car collector market has taken off as the damn virus has receded in many, but not all, places. (Vaccines work!) This article reports on the RM Sotheby’s automobile auction held in Italy last week. Yes, Sotheby’s is a high-end auctioneer, but the results from recent Barrett-Jackson and Mecum auctions in the US tell the same tale: people want to buy collector cars, maybe more now than ever before.
The Sotheby’s auction offered only 19 lots, but the average sale–converted to US dollars from Euros–was over $1,000,000. The median sale was about $660,000. I wish I could show pictures of the lots offered, but the blog author, apparently, is not at liberty to share them anywhere but his site. From Hagerty’s comes a picture of a car like one offered in Italy, a 1950 Cisitalia 202 SC Cabriolet:
The Sotheby’s lot sold for about $370,000 all in including commission. A Cisitalia 202 (although I think it is a coupe) is still part of the collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. In my opinion, the design is timeless and still fresh.
Italian automotive design is just in a league of its own. I won’t show the Alfa Romeo 4C again, but a car like that would not and could not have come from anywhere else.
#ThreadlessThursday
#Woke=Evil
#DesertRain
#CollectorCarBoom
#Cisitalia202
#ItalianAutomotiveDesign
#somanycarsjustonelife
#disaffectedmusings
If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.
Arizona weather is not hard to predict, it is just that the weather is in small patches. Just so you know that when the weather service predicts 20% chance of rain, that means that rain is possible for 20 % of the area…….maybe. I plan on getting a personal weather station for my house since the Tucson station for the Arizona Meteorological Network is 16 miles away from my house at the Univ. of Arizona Campbell Avenue farm at a lower elevation and next to the river bottom. Their temperature range and precipitation will be different than mine out here near the foothills at a higher elevation. The Tucson weather station is at the Tucson International Airport over 20 miles away from me. The network’s Desert Ridge station would give you better weather data since it is closer to you than the Phoenix weather station at Sky Harbor Airport.
LikeLike
Thanks, Philip. I know what probability of precipitation means as I have been a weather geek since I was very young. I still think the forecasts around here don’t seem to be as accurate as they could/should be.
LikeLike
“That’s a spicy meatball!!!”
Gorgeous car. Those rear haunches look nice.
LikeLike
Thanks, Doc. The Cisitalia is, literally, a work of art. Spicy meatball, you say?
LikeLike
It took me far too long to figure out that the 95.1 in your photo was the radio station, not the temperature. >grin<
I was surprised how cool it was on Thursday because that didn't appear to jibe with the Buckeye temps I've been seeing in the last few days. You must be high enough in Scottsdale (and maybe had more cooling rain) than in the western edge of the metro.
LikeLike
As I knew, and as Philip has pointed out, this area can have quite the micro-climatic variation. Once again, our house is more than 2,100 feet above sea level and Sky Harbor Airport is about 1,100 feet in elevation.
LikeLiked by 1 person