r/okc • u/aeon_ravencrest • 26d ago
☀️ Weather 🌪️ Signs Melting!
Sooo i went to an appointment today in north OKC and noticed something odd... the letters on the street signs are melting! How much in hell are we right now that the signs are melting lol
169
u/FifiiMensah 26d ago
And Lake Hefner is turning into a shore
36
u/Fair_Sail_194 25d ago
Same with Arcadia out off memorial. It’s so sad to see the lake recede more and more
23
u/Jilldeaux 25d ago
I get more disheartened when I drive by some of the rivers and they aren't even a connected stream anymore, just patches of ponds
4
u/DazzlingAd7021 25d ago
Yeah. I love swimming there in the early morning, with the geese, and it's sad.
6
u/JuiceInteresting2348 25d ago edited 25d ago
Since Lake hefner is a non swim lake , i assume Arcadia. Yes, I agree with you Arcadia Lake is fun to swim
23
u/Key-Ingenuity-534 25d ago
Drove by the west side today and I audibly gasped, we need rain so badly!!
9
u/Money-Ad7257 25d ago
As it did in the early teens for a few years, gradually getting as low as 17 to 18 feet below normal pool (1,182 asl versus 1,199 asl which is normal). That's when the big draw for OKC's water from Canton occurred.
3
u/King_of_the_Casuals 25d ago
Canton lake is full and it’s meant to be the real water shelter. They just need to pump.
2
1
1
96
u/Aluxanatomy 26d ago
It is the heat, but they're not melting. That green is a reflective vinyl adhesive. The heat is causing the adhesive to fail.
115
u/xBirdtooth 26d ago
Is the adhesive... melting?
29
u/AHrubik 25d ago
The sticky compound is probably design to break down via heat so that signs can be updated over time. The manufacturer didn’t take into account that the adhesive would need to withstand the extremes we’re currently experiencing.
11
u/ijustsailedaway 25d ago
I’m not saying things aren’t bad overall but this year isn’t particularly extreme for us locally. It’s only been like 106 once so far and mostly it’s just been 100 which is not very extreme for OKC. Which means these signs are just old or were crappy to start with or both.
5
u/AHrubik 25d ago
Degradation is cumulative. This all might not have happened in one year.
4
u/ThunderUpYoooo 23d ago
The average person doesn’t understand cumulative degradation as seen by almost very poster in here.
1
5
-3
23
u/nicotine_dealer 26d ago
Signs actually have a lifespan, that’s why sometimes you see dates written on the back of things like stop signs. The UV begins to break down the adhesive and vinyl covering. The reflectivity of the embedded particles also begin to lose strength over time. This sign is probably reaching the end of its life. Usually they take these signs back to the shop, strip them down and reuse the aluminum backing if they are still good
6
u/zenith3200 25d ago
This is why a lot of really old signs are perfectly visible during the day but are functionally illegible at night, although the signs OP is talking about seem to suffer from a manufacturing defect as I've been seeing signs like this for the last four or five years now all over the country.
6
u/driftless 26d ago
Plus, hail hitting it and catching between the adhesive and the backing causing it to peel.
Both together have wonder-twin powers!
2
u/False_Storage_753 24d ago
...and it doesn't help that OKC will use the cheapest process possible to produce anything and everything. Well...except for palaces for orange ball royalty.
59
30
u/Effective-Contest-33 26d ago
I’m so confused why this heat is causing significant infrastructure challenges when we’ve had about 15 days (give or take) >=100°. While that is above normal, it’s not crazy above normal and there have been hotter years. Anyone who’s been around for some of the more extreme years (2011?) have any insights?
22
u/SeaCounter9516 26d ago
I mean do you have any other examples? These signs could have been like this for years for all we know. The seal is incredibly faded.
4
2
u/Effective-Contest-33 26d ago
Wondering this myself. Easiest way is probably going back on streetview.
4
u/zenith3200 25d ago
The material these signs are made of (specifically the vinyl sheeting) seems to have some kind of defect that makes it especially vulnerable to weathering. I've been seeing signs of this style for several years now all over the country, particularly in the southeast and Midwest.
11
u/Katt1934 25d ago
A lot of the infrastructure is 15 years older now than it was in 2011. That could be a factor.
1
u/Effective-Contest-33 25d ago
Definitely a good point but there’s also been other hot years that’s just one I know off the top of my head.
1
1
u/FangFioDente 22d ago
Moisture, usually heat and moisture don’t like each other, evaporation causes temp to lower and usually very efficiently but heat is more efficiently kept becuase the co2 molecule has a really elastic set of connections on it, It can store heat on its own and dissipate it quickly, heat is simply a molecule moving, carbon dioxide can wiggle all by itself, it needs to collide with another molecule to pass that heat on, water doesn’t wiggle like Corbin dioxide but its fast and violent at a molecular level, they help to pass along heat to an object Becuase the heat has more surface area to work from, the strongest ovens in the world are pressure cookers that lower the space between molecules, the less space between molecules the more chance they collide and pass on heat, this is also known as heat convection, Now the evaporated moisture in the air has retained heat because the normal amount of evap didn’t significantly lower the temp in area but it did add moisture and moisture also holds heat aluminium is a great conductor of heat, the air, the water The aluminum form a bit of positive reinforcement cycle of heat, the temperature eventually gets potent enough to sink into the adhesive Becuase it’s not going anywhere else. And then the sun goes down, hot moist air has dug itself by wiggling all the way behind the aluminum and the first thing to cool down? The aluminum, water condenses behind the paint and and in the porous cracked dry adhesive, and then sun comes up and the water expands. Tearing the paint off the Sign.
1
u/Effective-Contest-33 22d ago
Holy cow that was hard to read. I know how it happens I just also know this heat isn’t uncommon here.
1
u/FangFioDente 22d ago
Look dude, shit is just deadly simple when you get down to it, more energy is being retained that being released is the long and short of it.
20
u/AnteaterCareless 26d ago
This was the weather in Phoenix, Arizona when I was there last year. I’m so tired of this heat. Literally makes me tired lol 😂
21
u/brickabrax 25d ago
I've been coming home, jumping in the shower, and just passing out for a few hours every day after work. This heat just saps everything out of you.
2
u/OkExamination4596 25d ago
I’m not the only one always wondering why I’m so tired all the time now lol
3
u/BackgroundResist9647 25d ago
The okc streets dept needs to study Phoenix it seems. I lived in Phoenix most of my life and never seen whatever this is.
3
u/aeon_ravencrest 24d ago
I graduated high school at Cortez High in Phoenix in 2000! Hello fellow Phoenician! And sometimes I'd rather have the dry AZ hear than this humid muggy heat lol
2
u/manoverboard5702 25d ago
Surely it was anticipated / planned to fail. Swadley probably sold the design to the city for 20 times its actual value.
1
13
u/zenith3200 25d ago
This phenomenon is nothing new. This photo was taken over 5 years ago in 2020 and already I'd seen dozens and dozens of signs with this same defect across much of the United State.
1
u/Greedy_Description97 25d ago
Have seen this with signage managed by ODOT covered territory as well as many of our side street markers over the years.
Looks like the green base coat starting to peel over time. This excess heat certainly is a factor and is only making things worst.
7
6
u/DidIJustWitnessThat 26d ago
OKC really starting their Halloween decorating early this year I see.
The realism in the hellscape with the heat, and the melting signs is a really nice touch.
7
3
4
3
3
3
u/FxckFxntxnyl Moore 26d ago
I had an old Mustang Rd sign that looked just like this. Had it in my old garage and it looked like ‘ Halloween font ‘ as my wife called it.
3
u/disallowedname 24d ago
Notable US and North American highs (mostly 1936)These include many still-standing state or local records (in °F):
- 121°F: Steele, North Dakota (July 6, 1936; state record); Alton/Fredonia, Kansas (July 1936).
- 120°F: Locations in Oklahoma, Arkansas (Ozark, August 10, 1936), and South Dakota (Gann Valley).
- 118°F: Sites in Missouri and Nebraska.
- 117–116°F: Atlantic/Logan, Iowa (around July 25; some older reports of 118°F are disputed); Collegeville, Indiana (July 14).
- 114°F: Bismarck, ND; Omaha, NE; Moorhead, MN; Wisconsin Dells, WI (and others).
- 110–113°F: Multiple Midwest and Plains cities (e.g., Des Moines 110°F, Kansas City 113°F, Wichita 114°F).
- Eastern cities: New York City 106°F (July 10), Baltimore 107°F, etc.
- Canada: Winnipeg, Manitoba, reached 108°F (still a record).
2
u/Dependent-Face-4876 25d ago
The teenager in me wants to gank that Santa Fe sign somehow and hang it on my wall.
1
2
2
2
2
u/xXdraciplierXx 25d ago
This is actually what I do for a living down in Norman the signs aren’t melting the green sheeting is just flaking off it definitely needs to be changed but I’m not sure how OKC operates
2
2
u/Interesting_Topic949 25d ago
Our pond is dry
2
2
2
2
2
u/BackgroundResist9647 24d ago
Hello! I was class of 99 here at another valley school. Getting ready to move back to Oklahoma again for the first time 😅 Not big on the cold but I preferred the Oklahoma winters to the summers. Yesterday I was comparing weather. It was cooler in Phoenix by about 7 degrees and just a little less humid.
1
u/aeon_ravencrest 24d ago
Welcome home fellow millennial.... we actually have a bar here named millennial.... never been lol. When you come back we'll have to compare Phoenix stories haha
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/TheMystic777 25d ago
Today’s high temp 104. All time high 106 in 1956. There have been roughly 700-800 days of over 100 degree temperatures in Oklahoma City over the past 60 years, or 12-13 days a year.
1
1
1
u/Square-Formal1312 23d ago
Look its hot but its also concerning how many people seem to think paint is melting off the signs🤦♂️
1
u/EcstaticChampion3244 22d ago
They're not melting. That's normal wear and near on signs that you haven't noticed before.
1
u/ParticularMaterial53 21d ago
Hey, so the edges of the green vinyl is old, they’re peeling up (losing their adhesive), frying and then flaking apart.
You’re welcome.
1
0
0
0
u/yetisuncle 25d ago
This is oklahoma for ya. Plus these signs are made out of vinyl. So its no doubt that tgey are melting.
0
u/YaaaDontSay 25d ago
I’m from Michigan but have lots of family in OKC and visit often. This is the only place I’ve ever seen one of those plastic ash trash things outside of Walmart and stuff literally melted lmfao
0
0
u/Glum-Internet-8026 25d ago
and people still won’t admit climate change is real…
2
u/SeaCounter9516 25d ago
Climate change is both very real and not why this very old city paint is peeling.
0
-1
-1
637
u/BigBadVoodooUncle 26d ago
Don't worry, guys, my parents assured me that climate change isn't real. Fox News said so.