Latest / The Dry Line Podcast / We Were Promised a Cold Front, Plus IKEA Comes to Tulsa, El Reno’s Water Leak for Bitcoin, and a Pregnant Okie Runs a Blazing Fast Marathon
Transcript
- 0:00[music]
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to The Dry Line Podcast.
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: I'm your host,
- 0:09SPEAKER_00: Ryan Fightmaster,
- 0:10SPEAKER_00: Editor-in-Chief of The Dry Line and your weekly leader on this exploration
- 0:14SPEAKER_00: through Oklahoma's strangely endearing culture and its sacred sports,
- 0:19SPEAKER_00: mercurial weather, nefarious politics, and damn fine people.
- 0:25SPEAKER_00: Two weeks ago,
- 0:26SPEAKER_00: on August 26th,
- 0:28SPEAKER_00: Lacey Swope, News 9's morning meteorologist, posted a graphic to Instagram.
- 0:33SPEAKER_00: The graphic had some radar thunderstorms over a heat map of the continental United States.
- 0:38SPEAKER_00: It was dated September 5th.
- 0:40SPEAKER_00: You can see what appears to be a change in
- 0:42SPEAKER_00: the high-pressure system that's been camped out over Oklahoma since July 1st.
- 0:46SPEAKER_00: I know you all are coming.
- 0:48SPEAKER_00: You know what this image looks like.
- 0:49SPEAKER_00: It's the Omega sign that you've seen and heard about.
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: Her post, the graphic, was accompanied by text that reads, First feel like fall.
- 1:02SPEAKER_00: I, personally,
- 1:03SPEAKER_00: having lived through most of the summer indoors as an outdoors person,
- 1:07SPEAKER_00: was intrigued by this.
- 1:09SPEAKER_00: I will read to you now the caption that accompanied Lacey Swope's Instagram post.
- 1:15SPEAKER_00: Quote, The end is in sight.
- 1:17SPEAKER_00: We are closely eyeing September 5th of the 9th for a big pattern shift.
- 1:22SPEAKER_00: The heat dome erodes away and a Canadian cold front moves in.
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: Rainstorm chances return.
- 1:27SPEAKER_00: Not quite a pumpkin spice front, but sure will feel better.
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: As you're aware, today is September 9th.
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: The high temperature today was 103.
- 1:42SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow,
- 1:43SPEAKER_00: if you dare still even look at your 10-day forecast on Apple weather anymore,
- 1:47SPEAKER_00: the high is currently listed at 80.
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that would mean the cool front came in on September 10th.
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: I know, Lacey's prediction and everyone else's prediction, by the way, was off by just a day.
- 1:59SPEAKER_00: So I'll cut her some slack.
- 2:01SPEAKER_00: If it happens...
- 2:04SPEAKER_00: Because these people are literally looking up at the clouds and trying to predict the future.
- 2:08SPEAKER_00: I, for one, find it kind of cool that they're wrong a lot.
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: And I find it reassuring that all of this science and artificial intelligence with
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: the weather, it's still hard to predict.
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: Again, I find that reassuring.
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: Again, I would normally give her a pass in this situation.
- 2:24SPEAKER_00: But this heat's been here a long time.
- 2:28SPEAKER_00: And it's about time Oklahomans...
- 2:30SPEAKER_00: Receive the promise that they've been waiting on.
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: God, it's been a long summer.
- 2:35SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but all I can think about is when the cold front will get here.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: And hopefully that is tomorrow, September 10th.
- 2:47SPEAKER_00: Hopefully today was the last of the 100 degree days.
- 2:50SPEAKER_00: But I know you've experienced what I've experienced all summer.
- 2:55SPEAKER_00: And that is this.
- 2:56SPEAKER_00: Every day you open up your phone to look at the weather.
- 3:00SPEAKER_00: Most days, it's a straight 10-day of 99 to 103.
- 3:05SPEAKER_00: But some days, when I check, I'll see a 92 or 88 degree about 6 or 7 days out.
- 3:11SPEAKER_00: I'll watch the weather that night,
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: and they'll mention something about a cool front upcoming in the 10-day forecast.
- 3:17SPEAKER_00: Then, the next morning, when I check the weather out, it's gone.
- 3:23SPEAKER_00: Back to 101.
- 3:25SPEAKER_00: Like it never happened.
- 3:28SPEAKER_00: That night,
- 3:28SPEAKER_00: on the weather forecast, a meteorologist doesn't even mention any cool front coming.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: Pretends like they never mentioned it at all.
- 3:36SPEAKER_00: I'm done being gaslit, folks.
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: All right, I'm done.
- 3:40SPEAKER_00: I just don't want it to be hot anymore.
- 3:41SPEAKER_00: I know the weather people feel this way too.
- 3:43SPEAKER_00: They're human beings, just like us.
- 3:45SPEAKER_00: But damn, I really just want this cold front to get here.
- 3:49SPEAKER_00: I want it to come soon.
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: Okay, this week on The Dry Line,
- 3:54SPEAKER_00: drylineokc.com,
- 3:56SPEAKER_00: as jokingly serious as I could,
- 3:58SPEAKER_00: I wrote an FAQ article about the promised cold front.
- 4:02SPEAKER_00: A back and forth interview with myself about weather,
- 4:04SPEAKER_00: which admittedly I know very little about, but I had a good time.
- 4:09SPEAKER_00: And I think it helped me cope with a few really hard months.
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: And as always,
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: I learned a few things in my research that I wanted to share with you all
- 4:16SPEAKER_00: as we look back at this inferno summer.
- 4:19SPEAKER_00: Hopefully with this whole heat dome thing in the rear view by
- 4:22SPEAKER_00: the time you're listening to this show.
- 4:25SPEAKER_00: All right,
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: got a few numbers of note for you,
- 4:28SPEAKER_00: starting with the number 40, which is the number of 100 degree days of 2026.
- 4:37SPEAKER_00: That is a sizable percentage of the year.
- 4:41SPEAKER_00: Well over 10% of the days of the year are over 100 degrees.
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: When people ask you who aren't from Oklahoma, What it's like to live in Oklahoma?
- 4:50SPEAKER_00: And you tell them it's hot and they're like,
- 4:52SPEAKER_00: oh, like I live in Atlanta and it's like really humid in Atlanta.
- 4:56SPEAKER_00: No, just give them that number.
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: Hey, in Atlanta, I don't care what the humidity is.
- 5:00SPEAKER_00: Has it ever been over 40 degree or has it ever been over like 100 degrees 40 times in a year?
- 5:06SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
- 5:07SPEAKER_00: That's Oklahoma for you.
- 5:09SPEAKER_00: Second number, 63.
- 5:13SPEAKER_00: That is the record for 100 degree days in a year.
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: 23 more days than the year we're living in right now.
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: Imagine that.
- 5:23SPEAKER_00: Imagine if there were 23 more days somewhere back in June where it would have been
- 5:28SPEAKER_00: over 100 degrees.
- 5:31SPEAKER_00: That year was 2011.
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you all remember 2011 being exceptionally hot, but I don't.
- 5:39SPEAKER_00: I have no memory of 2011 being like a hot year or something like that.
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: So that gives me solace.
- 5:45SPEAKER_00: That one day this will just disappear into my memories
- 5:49SPEAKER_00: and maybe just get swallowed up by normal summers where one can go outside
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: at 6 o'clock at night and not sweat through their clothes.
- 6:00SPEAKER_00: Next number for you, 0.25.
- 6:05SPEAKER_00: The last time we received more than 0.25 inches of rain in a day
- 6:10SPEAKER_00: in Oklahoma City was on July 4th.
- 6:14SPEAKER_00: July 4th, y'all.
- 6:16SPEAKER_00: It was that long ago.
- 6:18SPEAKER_00: Think about that day.
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: Just remember it.
- 6:21SPEAKER_00: It was humid.
- 6:23SPEAKER_00: It was green.
- 6:24SPEAKER_00: There were still flowers.
- 6:26SPEAKER_00: The foliage was flush with new growth.
- 6:31SPEAKER_00: Everything was in bloom.
- 6:33SPEAKER_00: Mosquitoes were actually biting you.
- 6:35SPEAKER_00: Mosquitoes still were alive.
- 6:37SPEAKER_00: I find it kind of quaint that we used to have to Spray mosquito spray around here.
- 6:40SPEAKER_00: I can't even remember the last time I sprayed mosquito spray.
- 6:43SPEAKER_00: They've been dead for a month, at least, in my backyard, at least.
- 6:49SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that feels like a long time ago.
- 6:51SPEAKER_00: We have had very little rain.
- 6:53SPEAKER_00: The dirt around the edge of my house that meets the foundation
- 6:57SPEAKER_00: of my home is pulling away to the point where I'm worried that stuff's going
- 7:01SPEAKER_00: to disappear inside of there.
- 7:02SPEAKER_00: It's like an inch wide gap away from my home.
- 7:04SPEAKER_00: We need some rain.
- 7:06SPEAKER_00: Last number for you.
- 7:08SPEAKER_00: Eight.
- 7:11SPEAKER_00: That is the ranking of this summer's heat.
- 7:14SPEAKER_00: So the average temperature,
- 7:16SPEAKER_00: I saw Emily Sutton do a post about this last night or in her forecast.
- 7:21SPEAKER_00: And Emily said that if you were to take the average low or the average, yeah,
- 7:26SPEAKER_00: the average low and the average high temperature of every day for the entire summer
- 7:31SPEAKER_00: and compare that across Oklahoma's history, this would be eight.
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: Again, it feels like it should be higher than eight.
- 7:37SPEAKER_00: I found this kind of disappointing.
- 7:39SPEAKER_00: I felt kind of unseen,
- 7:41SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 7:42SPEAKER_00: finding out that this summer wasn't the hottest summer ever,
- 7:45SPEAKER_00: but still pretty damn hot.
- 7:49SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll make a deal with you.
- 7:51SPEAKER_00: Even if this heat dome doesn't disappear sometime soon,
- 7:55SPEAKER_00: and we're stuck living around 100 for the foreseeable future,
- 7:58SPEAKER_00: I will not talk about it again.
- 8:00SPEAKER_00: I hate talking about this.
- 8:01SPEAKER_00: I'm done.
- 8:02SPEAKER_00: I might projectile vomit the next time someone says to me, it's so hot outside.
- 8:07SPEAKER_00: I'm done with it.
- 8:08SPEAKER_00: I'm done with summer.
- 8:09SPEAKER_00: I'm moving on to fall, no matter what the high temperature is.
- 8:13SPEAKER_00: Life's too short.
- 8:14SPEAKER_00: State Fair is next week.
- 8:17SPEAKER_00: I gotta turn the page, and I'm turning the page.
- 8:21SPEAKER_00: And into this week's edition of a rather curious and loaded Oklahoma news roundup.
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: Okay, somehow, we missed this last week.
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: A bit of news that's not getting under the radar.
- 8:36SPEAKER_00: On September 1st,
- 8:38SPEAKER_00: 4 million gallons of water leaked out and was subsequently wasted by
- 8:43SPEAKER_00: a Bitcoin mining facility in El Reno.
- 8:47SPEAKER_00: If you're wondering what Bitcoin mining is, here's a definition from Investopedia.
- 8:52SPEAKER_00: Again, something that could only happen in 2026.
- 8:55SPEAKER_00: Bitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are officially entered on
- 9:00SPEAKER_00: the blockchain and new Bitcoins are launched into circulation.
- 9:05SPEAKER_00: If that makes you want to just like ram your head into the wall, you're on the same page as me.
- 9:12SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
- 9:14SPEAKER_00: Miners use computers to find a cryptographic number that meets
- 9:17SPEAKER_00: the Bitcoin network's difficulty rules.
- 9:20SPEAKER_00: Again, that was like part of the definition.
- 9:22SPEAKER_00: I was so bored I didn't even finish the definition.
- 9:25SPEAKER_00: I read this to mean a hell of a lot of coding that's kind of sort of
- 9:28SPEAKER_00: the difficulty equivalent of pulling a diamond out of the ground for roughly
- 9:32SPEAKER_00: the same cost.
- 9:33SPEAKER_00: If you've been following the news,
- 9:35SPEAKER_00: doing any sort of coding in mass requires computers in mass in
- 9:40SPEAKER_00: a relatively constricted space.
- 9:42SPEAKER_00: Example,
- 9:42SPEAKER_00: the data center debates roaring around Oklahoma,
- 9:46SPEAKER_00: around the country, which involves water access and lots of water use.
- 9:50SPEAKER_00: And those computers need to be cooled down by water or they will light on fire.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: Hence the water running through the Bitcoin facility in El Reno.
- 9:59SPEAKER_00: I ran some math.
- 10:00SPEAKER_00: The nationwide average cost per gallon of water provided through
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: a utility company is three cents per gallon.
- 10:09SPEAKER_00: I thought that was pretty damn cheap.
- 10:10SPEAKER_00: If you apply that three cent charge to the four million gallons that were lost,
- 10:16SPEAKER_00: wasted in Al Reno, it's only $120,000 worth of water.
- 10:21SPEAKER_00: Again,
- 10:21SPEAKER_00: that is not as expensive as I would have thought for wasting four million gallons
- 10:28SPEAKER_00: of water Maybe cities,
- 10:32SPEAKER_00: this is just a thought,
- 10:33SPEAKER_00: maybe cities should start charging these data centers
- 10:37SPEAKER_00: and Bitcoin mining facilities more for the water they're using.
- 10:40SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 10:42SPEAKER_00: That doesn't seem like much to pay for that much water.
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: Next bit of news.
- 10:48SPEAKER_00: For those that care,
- 10:48SPEAKER_00: which I assume is not very many,
- 10:50SPEAKER_00: about this Oklahoma constitutional convention thing that Stid is up to,
- 10:55SPEAKER_00: a former Republican state representative for more,
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: Mark McBride, sued him this week in civil court.
- 11:01SPEAKER_00: I'm not an attorney,
- 11:02SPEAKER_00: so I don't understand why one would sue the state government and its governor
- 11:06SPEAKER_00: in civil court to challenge a state law or the governor's right to call
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: a constitutional convention.
- 11:11SPEAKER_00: Let me know if you know how this works.
- 11:12SPEAKER_00: Actually, don't.
- 11:14SPEAKER_00: I really don't care.
- 11:16SPEAKER_00: But again,
- 11:17SPEAKER_00: just like in the Macy and the Drummond runoff,
- 11:19SPEAKER_00: the same people that back Drummond are backing this suit against Stitt.
- 11:23SPEAKER_00: McBride is being represented by Witten Burridge along with other firms in the city.
- 11:27SPEAKER_00: Witten Burridge was a significant contributor to the Drummond campaign.
- 11:31SPEAKER_00: This all just seems like another chapter in the Drummond versus Stitt saga.
- 11:35SPEAKER_00: If I had to guess,
- 11:37SPEAKER_00: this is probably going to end up as a special vote sometime,
- 11:41SPEAKER_00: I think they've said in 2027.
- 11:44SPEAKER_00: And the people are probably just like that state question about voter ID
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: that was completely unnecessary.
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: I would guess that we're probably going to see this voted.
- 11:53SPEAKER_00: As a yes, and that we'll probably have a constitutional convention for no reason.
- 11:59SPEAKER_00: Personally,
- 12:00SPEAKER_00: if a governor's never done this before,
- 12:02SPEAKER_00: and most of the people in the state don't want to rewrite the constitution,
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: then why are we doing this?
- 12:08SPEAKER_00: Probably,
- 12:10SPEAKER_00: as always with this current leadership,
- 12:11SPEAKER_00: locally and nationally, it's probably just for power.
- 12:14SPEAKER_00: Again, I just think it's, it's just, I don't know.
- 12:17SPEAKER_00: I just don't want it to happen.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't make any sense.
- 12:21SPEAKER_00: Seems like a waste of money.
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 12:24SPEAKER_00: Next bit of news, Ikea,
- 12:26SPEAKER_00: for the first time,
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: is coming to Oklahoma,
- 12:30SPEAKER_00: in Tulsa, and it's supposedly going to open before the end of the year.
- 12:35SPEAKER_00: People, as you might expect, are really excited for this.
- 12:39SPEAKER_00: I'm sure these people are talking about the meatballs.
- 12:42SPEAKER_00: As a former professional furniture refinisher, though,
- 12:45SPEAKER_00: and lover of quality furniture made with real craftsmanship,
- 12:48SPEAKER_00: I have this to say, I'm glad Tulsa Got the first Ikea.
- 12:53SPEAKER_00: And I'm proud that Oklahoma City did not.
- 12:57SPEAKER_00: Some of their furniture is durable at Ikea.
- 13:00SPEAKER_00: Especially the higher end stuff.
- 13:01SPEAKER_00: But most of the furniture they sell is particle board.
- 13:07SPEAKER_00: And that shit's going to be in the landfill within 10 years.
- 13:10SPEAKER_00: But yay for Ikea.
- 13:12SPEAKER_00: Yay for Tulsa.
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm really glad that Tulsa won that one.
- 13:16SPEAKER_00: As a former professional furniture refinisher.
- 13:22SPEAKER_00: Raven, the restaurant that occupied the space, the VZDs once occupied, closed this week.
- 13:31SPEAKER_00: Since VZDs couldn't renegotiate its lease two years ago,
- 13:33SPEAKER_00: that now marks,
- 13:35SPEAKER_00: I guess it wouldn't have been two years ago,
- 13:36SPEAKER_00: I think that was like five years ago,
- 13:37SPEAKER_00: that now marks two restaurants that haven't made it in that same location.
- 13:41SPEAKER_00: I never got the chance to go to Raven,
- 13:43SPEAKER_00: but when I walked past,
- 13:44SPEAKER_00: I always thought it looked cool inside,
- 13:45SPEAKER_00: looked intimate,
- 13:46SPEAKER_00: looked like a good place to get like a grilled chicken and potatoes meal.
- 13:52SPEAKER_00: It was an awesome location.
- 13:53SPEAKER_00: It's still an awesome location.
- 13:56SPEAKER_00: And I think that area is due for a new innovative concept now that that corner is open again.
- 14:04SPEAKER_00: Western has had Musashi's and Sushiniko holding it down for a long time.
- 14:09SPEAKER_00: They just opened that Route 66 Gelato, which I had about a month ago.
- 14:13SPEAKER_00: Had some banana pudding with wafers gelato.
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: That was fantastic.
- 14:19SPEAKER_00: But personally, I would love to see a really well done tap room for a brewery go in there.
- 14:26SPEAKER_00: Like cool vibes,
- 14:28SPEAKER_00: great attention to detail,
- 14:30SPEAKER_00: a place to hang out,
- 14:31SPEAKER_00: a place to spend like quality time,
- 14:33SPEAKER_00: not just like some like of the, you know, the vats stuff.
- 14:38SPEAKER_00: That they have in the brewery just sitting around for decor.
- 14:40SPEAKER_00: Like I want like a badass place to get a drink.
- 14:43SPEAKER_00: Maybe Coop could do that because I don't think we really have like a badass tap room
- 14:49SPEAKER_00: in the city.
- 14:50SPEAKER_00: And Coop doesn't have a place in the city.
- 14:53SPEAKER_00: So that's my vote.
- 14:54SPEAKER_00: Let's put a Coop right there.
- 14:56SPEAKER_00: That is what I want off Western.
- 14:57SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 14:59SPEAKER_00: Last bit of news.
- 15:01SPEAKER_00: An Oklahoma woman named Allie Andrews finished a marathon in Australia.
- 15:08SPEAKER_00: At eight months pregnant this week.
- 15:10SPEAKER_00: You heard that right.
- 15:12SPEAKER_00: At 36 weeks pregnant, a woman finished a marathon.
- 15:17SPEAKER_00: And get this,
- 15:18SPEAKER_00: she ran it in under three hours,
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: finishing at two hours and 58 minutes and 93rd out of 13,000 women.
- 15:28SPEAKER_00: That is so fast.
- 15:30SPEAKER_00: I mean, fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon by more than 30 minutes.
- 15:38SPEAKER_00: And she said she wasn't even running hard.
- 15:39SPEAKER_00: Said she was just out having an enjoyable training marathon run.
- 15:45SPEAKER_00: Okay,
- 15:45SPEAKER_00: all I got to say is I trained for like three years for a marathon and about died
- 15:50SPEAKER_00: and barely crossed under like the four hour mark.
- 15:53SPEAKER_00: And she just ran a two hour and 58 minute marathon at 36 weeks pregnant.
- 16:01SPEAKER_00: Says she hopes to qualify for the Olympics in 2028.
- 16:05SPEAKER_00: Oklahomans, let's go.
- 16:08SPEAKER_00: You know that baby's going to be badass.
- 16:10SPEAKER_00: That's all I have to say.
- 16:15SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed today's show, give us a follow.
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- 16:35SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
- 16:36SPEAKER_00: Thank you for reading the work we're putting out there on The Dry Line.
- 16:40SPEAKER_00: Just appreciate all the support, everybody.
- 16:42SPEAKER_00: Until the next time, you'll know where to find us.
- 16:45SPEAKER_00: A powerhouse.
- 16:46SPEAKER_00: Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.
- 16:51SPEAKER_00: Oh god.