Wednesday, July 07, 2010

The heat wave blues

The record-breaking heat got you beat? According the the RT-D's Rex Springston, maybe you better get used to it.
Richmond's recent unpleasantness included the warmest March through May on record. After that came a record June in which every day hit 80 degrees or higher, 19 reached 90 or higher, and three got to 102. That hot streak might not signal climate change, but it offers a preview of life in a warmer world, some observers say.
Today: 103! Click here to read the entire article in the RT-D.

1 comment:

Shaun Kenney said...

What was that one summer where it was above 90 every day for something on the order of 10 weeks? 1987? 1989?

I only remember it because we didn't have air conditioning until I was much older, and the best we had were fans and open windows. Our babysitter had one of the window units for air conditioning... but it didn't do much. Played outside until morning, did our best to stay cool inside during the afternoon, and then everyone went outside to the front port just before and after dinner.

It still won't beat working outside in '95 when the heat index topped 120degF+. That was miserable... I remember starting a shift at the auto mechanic with nine guys, and watching four of them go home with heat exhaustion. That plus engines plus exhaust and fuel, and it was hot... but character building nonetheless. Three years later, I'd be in Qumran on the Dead Sea... and that would get hot too (though it was a dry heat).

So long as the humidity stays down, I'm OK with the heat. I'm just used to the era before air conditioning, or at least when poverty made it's non-existence a fact of life.