I hate summer. Always have, always will.
As a young ‘un, I was bored a week into summer vacation. And the heat…I don’t get it! People are annoyingly happy as summer approaches. Why? What’s so fun about feeling like you’re in an oven?
The heat index in DC is 106 degrees. But I’m inside. With working air conditioning. For now. Had a little scare this morning. I got up before the sun to put the finishing touches on an article for this publication, and it was hot. Unnaturally hot. Hmmm…
No power!!!
After a brief scare, the power resumed and cool air returned. Now I’m wondering if it’ll happen again. I don’t want to be like those poor people in the boroughs.
How hot is it where you live? Got any heat-coping strategies? Horror stories?
Why did God invent summer? 
Reuters photo
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Hi La Shawn -
Keep your hopes up. Out here in the Denver area, we’ve had a couple of 100+ weeks this summer – one in June and one in July. We just had a weekend of 98-99. Of course, we don’t have the humidity that makes the heat so much worse. But this week it’s 75-80 most of the week – 77 today. Relief is headed your way!
I love reading your postings, keep up the good work!
La Shawn,
My heat-coping strategy when the hot spell was out here in So. California (no air conditioning at home) was figuring out what air conditioned places I should visit. Provided I could muster the energy to peel my melted carcass off the couch.
Church worked really well as a heat-coping strategy!
You would never make it here in Scottsdale. Right now we are having a cool spell with temperatures hovering just around 98°. A couple of weeks ago it was 119°. Most of the summer here is well above 105°. That’s just the way it is in the desert and everyone and everywhere has air-conditioning. It’s a dry heat, as they say, so most people tolerate the heat here a lot better than you do in places where the humidity is it exceedingly high. Our humidity averages below 20%. Anything above that and I notice it right away.
Even further south than Scottsdale, Yuma is only a few miles from the Mexican border. We had almost 3 weeks of 115+ temps. It got down to 102 over the weekend and felt nice. Even though it is a dry heat, it’s like a blast furnace at times. I drink lots of iced tea and eat cold salads.
Stay cool.
Sounds like you’d like San Francisco. Fog is the name of the game in summer. Then again, there are the wild eyed lefties to deal with.
One question: if you don’t like the heat, why, oh why, do you live in DC?
Two weeks ago, it was 111 here in San Jose. No AC here. And I’m 9 months pregnant. It was brutal!
Hopefully it’ll leave the area fast. My aunt’s in Baltimore, and I worry about her (she’s 70 and suffers from a disease that takes away most of her energy. She can’t really go out anywhere to cool down.)
The east coast is getting a taste of what we’ve had for the last several weeks…
A comfortable 99° here today, gonna hover there all week but it beats last week and a half that stayed in the 105° area every afternoon for a week…
But for us, that’s just Texas in the summer… We deal with it, and I drink ice cold BEER…
And when all else fails, BLOG NAKED…
Why did God invent summer?
So that in the dead of a cold, wet, lifeless, dreary, sunless winter we would ask, “Why did God invent winter?”
The ac isn’t working in my car, and I have a 40 mile commute — each way. Morning isn’t bad, but afternoon is awful. I was soaking wet when I got home yesterday, but I get 35 MPG. Hubby says he is going to go get it fixed, while in the meantime, I am driving the 26MPG minivan with working ac…and Sirius radio.
I don’t cope well at all. I hate being hot. The hotter I get, the madder I get, which, in turn, just makes me hotter. Makes me really tired too.
46 degrees in your weird measurement scale
7 Degrees C in a normal kind of temperautre scale.
(or to be scientific – 280.15 kelvin)
Still – give it a few months and you’ll be whinging about the cold – and I’ll be sweltering in the heat.
A few days here in Palm Springs,California the temperature was 121 degrees and I tell everyone to think cool as it’s all in their mind.I go and shop for my fall wardrobe(ac mall)and then go home and drink plenty of house wine of the south and then fall into a 90 degree pool.
It’s only a few short weeks to Autumn,it’ll be cooler before you know it so hang in there.
La Shawn:
As a transplanted Yankee, I now understand how Africans and others in tropical climate lived.
I lived in Houston for 5 years from 1982 to 1987. It made Shreveport seem temperate; the day temperatures were the same, but the night time was hotter and more humid; you could cut it with a knife. Only New Orleans was wores.
I played gold without a cart. How? I wore long pants and shirts, and a hat. I carried a 2 qt pop bottle and filled it up with cold water 3 times/18 holes. I sweated it all off – I survived, and was in good shape.
It’s not rocket science. It’s simple physics. And the Indians lived here because the trees were not all cut down; the temperature in the shade was much less.
St. Louis lost power for about a week in July. at least 700,000 homes and businesses were affected… impacting about 2 million people.
Coping techniques???? I just stay in my apt.
I wait until the Sun goes down to venture out.
I knew I’d find something else I disagree with La Shawn on
. Summers are the best. Not that the heat is fun when it’s super hot, but I’ll never understand why humans live in areas that get lots of snow 
.
Of course I only like summers because of that invention called air conditioning
. Which allows me to take in some of the heat when I choose. But it’s better than going outside of a heated home into a pile of snow or wondering if I’ll drive across a patch of BLACK ICE 
.
LaShawn,
Now you know why, until A/C was install in DC, we had no Federal Government to speak of, Congress aways recessed in May to avoid the DC summer. A/C the beginnig of BIG government, damn that Yankee Carrier for inventing it.
Just the facts, mame. Kemp
Heat? What heat? It’s just another typical Florida summer down here.
The rest of you folks to the north are just getting a taste of what we have for 6 months out of every year. 
That any human being could survive the summer in Washington, DC before the invention of the air conditioner is quite amazing.
In fact I once spent a month in Washington one weekend in August …
YIKES … what were the Framers THINKING??
Have you ever experienced winter without heat?
That will allow you to accept summer heat, believe me.
It is a lot easier to find ways to cool down a bit than it is to find ways to warm up when the mercury drops.
I’m in NE Kansas. It’s been 100+ the last several days but the humidity hasn’t been as bad as it is sometimes. Most of that time I haven’t had AC. Right now I have an attic fan going and I’m sitting about 4 feet away from my open back door. Temp is down to 89 right now. Attic fans are great! However, I do cheat. I have a small window AC on in my bedroom. When I go to bed in awhile it will be nice and cool there. I can deal with the heat all day long as long as I don’t have to sleep in it. My biggest aggravation is my old friend in Astoria, Oregon (on the coast) who lets me know every night how great the weather is out there.
La Shawn,
Summer in Decatur is horrible. For being Central Illinois, it feels more like the Deep South.
Like you, I cannot wait until summer is over and this miserable heats gives way to the crisp chill of autumn. Where I work, it is always alot hotter in the plant than it is outside.
So needless to say, it’s awful. What’s really bad is suiting up to handle caustic, because for that you have to wear a full length rain coat, rubber boots and gloves, and a full face shield. This of course traps much of your body heat close to your skin and makes for a very long day.
The most important thing is to only eat a limited amount of food on break and stay hydrated! Hydration, hydration, hydration.
Lashawn:
My family is trying to move into a new house we bought outside of Philadelphia (that has limited air conditioning by the way) this week. It has been unbearable (all week over 100+ degrees)tryingto clean out one house and take the stuff over to the new house. I am going to wait until it cools off before I do anything else!
It was so hot here in Seekonk, Massachusetts that a number of people spontaneously combusted in my parking lot. What a mess! Also, we didn’t get to sell them much, unless they died after they came into the store.
Heat lover and sun worshipper here.
Ever seen black people trying to “get a tan” and sunning themselves in the blazing Los Angeles sun in summer? Thats me. Glassy obsidian black skin is what I go for in the summer, and the heat just makes me want to get bucket-naked and jump in the nearest body of water.
Summer should last 12 months a year, La Shawn – get with the program!!!
Heat and all I love the summer. I loved it as a kind in the lowcountry of South Carolina, I tolerated it in the desert of Iraq. I hate the winter and the cold.
I’m finding that as I get older, I’m appreciating more of the variety of the seasons. I’ve always loved the sun — being by the pool and soaking it up, as long as there is ac to retreat to when I’m done. And I love the snow, bundling up with sweats and a mug of hot chocolate. I also love fall, as you feel the crispness in the air and the cold coming. And spring, with the reminders of new life, the smell of growth, and the rain. Summers are definitely hot enough around DC, but I could certainly stand a bit more snow in the winter!
If you want a break from the heat and a dip in a pool, I have guest passes for our condo pool in Germantown!
Its going to be over 100 here in my little corner of NJ. We have a sprinkler/shower hook up to a well that provides lots of cool water (almost downright cold lol). Plus lots of ice pops for the kids. The neighbors have been very nice to offer their pool to swim in often. I don’t mind the heat, but I hate the humidity. Typical August weather here.
I love it all…the heat and the humidity…
And everything that comes with it, the beach, grilling out, vacations…
I hate winter….
I have two degrees of suntan, either library paste or boiled lobster.
Sunscreen, Stetson hats and long sleeve shirts are my friends.
I know how you feel. I’m seriously considering moving to the mountains. The only way to cope with this heat is to stay inside or go to the lake. I’d love to go there one last time before I melt.
Out here in So.Cal. over the past 3 weeks or so it has reached well over 100 degrees. In the Chatsworth area alone we got as high as 114!!! Along with this beloved heat, we had an unusual companion, humidity! Now, it is barely hitting 80 degrees and people are happy, relieved, and I for one am thankful it didn’t continue, or even worse, get hotter! It has been noted that the month of July was the hottest month in Los Angeles history, maybe even California history.
I guess you guys are getting a taste of what we had over here. It must be that global warming thing kicking in.
To deal with the heat, I just did what I do best, plowed right through it and got done what I needed to get done. Had a lot of liquids available too.
Here in Atlanta the current temp is 86 degrees with 60% humidity (not even 11am yet). Today’s high is 96 degrees, however I am sitting here with my space heater on HIGH. This is because I try to drink 32 ounces of ice cold water every 1 1/2 hours. It keeps me feeling frigid which makes my mind think that I *need* the blazing temperatures to stay warm! You know, now that I mention it, that just sounds weird. But it works!
One and a half more months until Autumn!! (my favorite season)
*lol* I love it hot, but I think La Shawn can relate to this post: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/
How about a nice hot tea, La Shawn?
We’re having the same dreadful weather here in Columbus, Ohio as well. Relief is expected starting tomorrow.
My attitude toward summer is: no thanks. Who needs the heat and the bugs. The only upside is that there are no school buses with which to contend.
My attitude is that we humans are similar to a head of lettuce – the cooler we’re kept, the fresher we remain!
Hot? In DC??
Come down here to deep South Texas, and you’ll find out what hot is. You’d probably melt shortly after stepping off the plane.
I can remember Christmas Days when it was 105 degrees. And I can remember summer days when it was 120 degrees in the shade.
When I was a kid, I used to regularly fry eggs on the sidewalk! If you walked across the street, the soles of your sneakers melted and stuck to the pavement. Now that’s hot.
It’s been really nice here in Las Vegas. The monsoons are gone and the temp is in the mid 90’s to 100. That’s much lower than average.
106 degrees…?
Ha, ha, ha, hoo,hoo, hoo. *tears in my eyes, slapping my desk with my hand*
106 degrees.
That’s a cool day in the So. Cal. desert. Just be happy that you don’t have those annoying electric companies putting you through rolling black outs because they are too lazy and cheap to update their power grid.
Fred
This is normal summer weather here in east Texas. And while many places are hotter than normal, many of those places don’t have to deal with near 50% humidity.
“Why did God invent summer? ”
~So I’d know when to fish!!
“Hot? I’ll tell you Hot! It’s like a blast furnace in here!” Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, 5th circle of Hell
California is really hot too, we were without power last week, with 104 tempt, can you believe the sweat that was pouring down our faces.
As an ex-New Yorker living in Virginia, I love,love,love the summer. I admit it can be miserable, but for me it’s a lot easier to cope with that winter. I hate the cold, and I really hate snow and ice storms. The only reason I don’t move farther south is that I don’t feel like dealing with palmetto bugs, etc. (Oh, and my husband won’t go).
In summer, I can put on a dress and sandals, and I’m ready to go. No gloves, coats, hats to try to keep track of. No scraping the windshield. No shoveling out the driveway. I can sit on my front porch no matter how hot it is, but the cold drives me in. You know when you get in your car after it’s been sitting and it’s really hot? That feels great! Just think, some people pay for a sauna, we can get it for free!
I do have the respite of my AC when I want, and I have compassion for those who don’t. But as #19 said, it’s a lot easier to deal with no AC than no heat.
I’m in a suburb of Chicago. A/C went out Monday night. Call the Apartment people this morning and found out that they treat A/C like Washer/Dryer.They provide the connections but they are not responsible for the A/C. The last tenant left the A/C in my apartment.
Just **^^*&&*#@^)%^ Great!!!
So I took off work and went out to buy a new unit. Well I found out that the Capitalist around here haven’t got a clue. Everybody is out of Window Units. Most say that they are not getting any more in. Are these people DUMB or what. I could under stand one store but 6. )(*(*^&(^)_)_^_79
Finally called around and found a place that had a unit it will cost more. A/C repair working out of his home and Van but he can get the units and will deliver and install. It will cost twice what a unit would have cost at one of the stores but WTF there is nothing else to do.
I am ashamed of the stores around here.
Where is Johnny Carson when we need him?
“How hot was it…?”
Blogging naked? The mind reels! TexasFred that is just WAY TOO MUCH information!
Count me in as one of those who LOVES summer. I always looked forward to it, even as a kid. Time to read what I wanted, hang out with friends, not having to be home until the street lights came on, taking classes in summer school on subjects that I wanted to take (for enrichment, not remedial, back when the school districts offered that sort of thing), going to GS camp, camping with my family…
Even now I look forward to summer. We’re just all more relaxed and have more time to do what interests us rather than what we HAVE to do (although there is some of that).
As for the heat… Well, I wear as little as I can legally get away with, find A/C movie theaters and bookstores, hang out in or near water, and wait for the fog to roll in. It always does! And I go back to wearing fleece and/or wool.
At least on the West Coast and in the Northeast you guys get a break. I’m in Atlanta and it’s been unbearably hot down here since June. It’s hit 100 or more a couple of times going back to early July. Today, in the part of the city I live in it was 100. I haven’t worn a jacket since March. When I visited NYC in early may, it got down to 47 and I was so cold and freezing. And I’m originally from NY. lol
Arg, I live in Queens in a neighborhood that lost power for a significant amount of time — I think it came back after two days or so. It was SO HORRIBLE. Not only was every apartment burning hot, and not only did all the food go bad, and not only did I go stir crazy without TV or lights or fans or radio or a cell phone charger, but you couldn’t even get a cold soda to drink unless you walked 20 blocks. I survived on warm water, doritos, and room-temp fruit. Yuck.
I spent many summers in Texas, and I would take that kind of heat over this rainforest-humid, boxed-in-asphalt city heat any day.
Hi La Shawn!
In Orlando the temp was somewhere in the mid 90’s and the heat index was at or above 100 or something like that.
I don’t notice.
Between here and Texas I have lived in HOT for 17 years. The way I deal with it is this …
What heat?
::: pure denial baby :::
that and lots of tea, water and lightweight fabrics.
It’s hot here too. I’m in a house with 6 child and NOT AC! Talk about cranky. I blogged about it yesterday, and how a mom with 6 little sweaty rug rats makes it through the day.
http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/08/help.html
Neil Cavuto was able to put this into perspective. His last show [yesterday for anyone in the States, this morning for those of us in the Middle East] had a very nice military man on who stated how he and his troops cope with the heat WHILE carrying 100 pounds of equipment on their backs everyday. Foregoing the details, let me just say that y’all don’t know what “HOT” is. In Iraq the lowest temperature this week is supposed to be 110 degrees. And, here in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, it was almost 100 when I woke up this morning at 6:30! Our thermostat, right now, says 110 degrees, and that IS in the shade [under a patio roof]. I would guess that it is probably closer to pushing 120 outside, right now.
Here in my home office outside of Boston it is just hitting 90. And it ain’t the dry heat!
No A/C at my house, but a fan helps.
My best coping technique is a cool bath. Lowers the body temperature and then you can think again. For a while…. Then it’s back to the tub for a refresher!
On the hottest days, I like to take in a movie during the mid day in a cool dark theater. I also will take a cold shower in the evening. When walking about, a neat trick is to soak the baseball hat one is wearing in water – that cools you right off.
La Shawn,
Washington weather is part of the reason that I chose to stay here in San Diego when I got out of the Navy…..humidity!!.
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