Sly and the Family Stone sang about it in 1969, but “fun” isn’t the appropriate word for this year’s summertime in the Midwest, Mid-South and eastward. This is the year that spending a vacation on the West Coast would be cool. And I do mean cool.
Where I live, smack in the middle of the country, we had our hottest days in July, breaking records right and left. The day after a record breaking official 111 degrees, my AC went out. It was repaired the next afternoon and we thought we’d never get cool again. Ten days later, it quit again, and the temp in the house made it to 98 degrees. It was all anyone talked about for weeks. And as you can see, we still are!
I shouldn’t complain. I spent twenty-four years in a farmhouse with no AC. My oldest was born in what was the hottest summer on record—1980—until that record was broken this summer. We set several records this year, beating the ones that were set back then. It was the hottest July we’ve ever had, with twenty-four 100+ degree days. There have been thirty-six 100+ degree days this year thru July 31. I live a few miles from the Air Force Base, and the temperature there one day was 114, although not official for the U.S. Weather Service.
It has finally cooled off, at least for a few days. Today was 91 with a heat index of 98, thanks to 50+% humidity. Tomorrow will see triple digits again, or at least that's the rumor.
Those in Texas
We’re expecting a few more 100 degree days here before this is all over. School started today, and I’m thankful that most schools are air conditioned. Trying to stay awake in a hot school building can be a struggle, even for the younger set.
If your summer has been hot, hot, hot, relief is on the way…in a few weeks. And if you’ve been one of the lucky ones with cooler weather, your turn will come, sometime in the future, I’m sure. ☺
7 comments:
Hi Rox. Boy am I right there with you. I'm in Texas and we got a small shower last Saturday. Total rainfall over a few hours was under 1/4 inch per my rain gauge. And yes, my husband put out the rain gauge recently and said he was practicin the power of positive thinking. We took our morning coffee outside and watched the sprinkles from the patio. We've only had a couple days that didn't reach triple digits since June. Typically I love summer, but this year I am so looking forward to cooler fall weather.
Rox,
We got a inch of rain last Saturday night. After we went to bed I told my husband that it sounded like it was raining. He said it was my imagination, but we both got up to check. By then we knew it was really raining. We turned on the patio light just to watch it. Wonderful! But now we're back to the same ol' same ol' hot weather.
Our July in IL was hot and it rolled into the beginning of August, but then fall like weather rolled in last week. We're now climbing up to normal temps, but it was nice not to have to run the AC and have the windows open.
Now we're waiting to see if our fall ends up setting new records for temps.
Oh, Pam, I hope you get more soon! That little bit of rain wouldn't even fill the cracks in the ground. :( Linda, you, too! An inch might seem like a lot in normal times, but these are not normal. I'll continue to work on the positive thinking for Texas, too.
Winter, that's what we did. Cooler last week, and today is 102. I'm melting!!
Our summer has been cold, gray and gloomy with over a hundred days of rain in the last four months and just seven days of sunshine since May. How extreme the weather is all over!
What is rain???? I live on the Texas coast and we haven't even seen a sprinkle of the stuff. The humidity down here keeps the feel like temperature above 108° most days. It's not even noon and it is already 100°.
Today grandbaby learned the sky can be blue and went in his wading pool for only the second time this summer. The temp almost reached 80
Thinking seriously of moving to Texas!
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