Only a lack of precipitation kept it from being a full 50. Hard freeze (below 32) last night from below Orlando to the panhandle. My son is in college at Gainesville and they hit > 25 degrees <.
One very important thing is that engineers back then didn't build things with the 'just barely enough' attitude of today: Todays engineers use just barely enough materials with just enough strength to last just enough strains. The old engineers couldn't make these ulta-fine calculations so they OVERBUILT with plenty of safety margins.
That's why old stuff lasts while today's stuff falls apart.
I've seen an 8lb opossum shrug off a .22LR, so what do you expect when you pop a 2500lb cow???
Down here in Florida (yes I'm near the location of the event) we have 200lb panthers, 800lb wild boar and 200lb deer that would laugh at that .22LR pistol.
...and now they've published the photo on the web, their insurance company will find out and raise their liability insurance rates on their homeowner's policy to more than their mortgage payment!!
Sometimes its better not to show off your cool stuff.
Someone beat you to it, Stephen - the pylon-mounted apartment buildings in "The Jetsons" (and as I remember they could even vary the height of the building from the ground...)
The biggest problem with solar is the limitation of how much power actually arrives on the face of the Earth.
On a GOOD day with no clouds and perfect atmosphere you will only get a maximum of 750watts per square meter. That's total at 100% efficiency (and most solar panels are more like 15-25%) Any weather and you can start slicing off more watts. And for every year the panel sits out in the sun/weather it loses more efficiency.
You can quantum leap all you want but you'll never get more power of a solar panel than what falls on the Earth...
Here just north of West Palm Beach it was 35.
So its not like we weren't trying...
The old engineers couldn't make these ulta-fine calculations so they OVERBUILT with plenty of safety margins.
That's why old stuff lasts while today's stuff falls apart.
Down here in Florida (yes I'm near the location of the event) we have 200lb panthers, 800lb wild boar and 200lb deer that would laugh at that .22LR pistol.
Sometimes its better not to show off your cool stuff.
Well we can argue that point, dearie...
On a GOOD day with no clouds and perfect atmosphere you will only get a maximum of 750watts per square meter. That's total at 100% efficiency (and most solar panels are more like 15-25%)
Any weather and you can start slicing off more watts.
And for every year the panel sits out in the sun/weather it loses more efficiency.
You can quantum leap all you want but you'll never get more power of a solar panel than what falls on the Earth...
Kinda like trying to re-outfit the QE2 oceanliner into a dirigible....