It is me, or does it just seem warmer than before?
It gets hot in the South in the summer, and this year - before Summer even started, it was hot all over America, with temperatures well into the 90s and above. Where we live, humidity is also an issue, which makes temperature relative. It was thought that human beings could survive temperatures as high as 115 DEGF (50% humidity) or 95 DEGF (100% humidity). Beyond those limits, well, the human body loses temperature regulation and you die of heat stroke. A recent study suggests these numbers are optimistic - that the maximum temperature at 100% humidity would be 87 DEGF - which are conditions that routinely occur where I live.
Maybe it is global warming making things seem hotter. Then again, the effects of global warming are not expected to be seen in a major way for years. Even so, a change of even a degree on average is a big deal. The 1970's were a relatively colder decade, with staggering snowfalls in Central New York. Today, half the ski resorts there (maybe 3/4) are gone - victims of warmer decades and a decline in the popularity of skiing (and the popularity of low-cost flights to Colorado and Utah, where there is real snow).
But either way, it is the time of year for heat. Where we live, when it gets to be 95 degrees, you can only spend maybe an hour or so outside, before you are drenched with sweat. You go inside, take a cold shower and throw your clothes in the wash. You go through a lot of clothes this way - particularly underwear. Speaking of which, if you are going somewhere where you expect to spend time in the heat, it pays to bring an extra shirt and underwear so you can freshen up. You have to plan ahead.
And part of this is to stay hydrated. We bring a small cooler with us with cold waters and ice. Not only does this keep you hydrated, it can literally cool you down. Dehydration is a real problem, and drinking alcohol can make things worse - dehydrating you further. You drink beer and then urinate because your body wants to expel alcohol, which is a poison. So you are thirsty - might as well have another beer, right? Over time, you become very dehydrated this way. This can lead to a stroke or heart attack as your blood thickens into a paste. But there are lesser issues as well. As you get dehydrated, your colon kicks in, drawing water from your "waste material" (as it was designed to do) resulting in constipation.
Oddly enough, spending a lot of time in the sun can create the opposite problem - exploding diarrhea. Maybe it is all that Vitamin D from the sun, I don't know. All I know is, it happens. It can be quite awkward when it strikes at the beach. And while it may not seem as bad a problem as constipation, diarrhea can cause even more dehydration as your body expels even more fluids.
So stay hydrated, stay out of the sun, and don't spend the whole day in 90-degree heat, you'll pass out.
It goes without saying that cars turn into virtual furnaces when left out in the hot sun - which is why children and pets die every year when left in a hot car. If I have been working out in the hot sun, I change into my backup shirt and underwear before driving off and put a clean old t-shirt across the seat back to prevent sweat from soaking into the upholstery - otherwise you get old car smell.
Yes, living in the South sucks in the summer - but then again, you don't have to shovel heat. Many folks just stay inside during the day, with the air conditioning on. And air conditioning gets expensive, particularly if you like to keep the house very cold. Our electric bill can go from $130 a month to $400 a month during a heatwave. If we aren't here, and set the thermostat at 82 DEGF, out bill drops to $50 or so.
One trick to beat the heat is to take advantage of the early morning and evening hours. During some days, the temperature drops during the night - sometimes even getting below 70 DEGF. You can open the windows and let the house cool down and in the morning, close them again, and the house stays cool for hours, even if the A/C doesn't kick in.
Going out in the early morning when it is cool is also a trick - if you like to jog or walk or bike ride. It is almost pleasant during those early morning hours, but be sure to get back indoors before 11:00 AM. We realized quickly, in Pompano Beach, that the hours of 11:00AM to 2:00 PM were the hours we had to have the top up on the convertible, with the A/C on MAX.
The evenings can be sublime, yet we see so many people wasting them by staying indoors and eating in front of the TeeVee while watching Tucker Carlson on Fox News. Talk about an upset stomach! We like to go for a bike ride or a buggy ride and see the sunset and enjoy the mild ocean breezes and the temperate weather. It's almost like the hot part of the day didn't exist.
But the best way to deal with the heat is to get away from it. Take a vacation to the mountains or up North or somewhere where it is cooler and more hospitable (but after black fly season has ended). Oddly enough, many people do the opposite. Folks go to Disney World in the hot summer months and boil their brains out. Tourists do the same thing in Washington DC in the summer - frying their children on the National Mall. I remember my parents taking us there in 1968 in the summer - on a trip to the Southwest! All I remember was it was incredibly bright (Sunglasses for kids? That would be stupid!) and hot as hell. Actually, that's about all I remember about that trip - Dad bought a Dodge 880 wagon with air conditioning (the first car they owned with A/C!) and Mother would shut it off because it was "too cold" up front - while us kids fried in the rear. Do you think Dad would have sprung for the tinted glass? Of course not.
But I digress.
The point is, there are survival tips for hot weather. Our friends in Mexico invented the mid-day "siesta" centuries ago, not because "Mexicans are lazy" but because they were smart - smarter than the Anglo's who, like Mad Dogs and Englishmen, would work themselves to death in the mid-day sun. Better to nap during the hot mid-day and then enjoy a fiesta during the cool evening - and work in the cool morning before it gets hot.
Maybe with this global warming thing, hot weather will become more of a norm for more of the country - and last longer and get worse for the South. I don't know if it is really taking effect already, but when we lived in Central New York in the 1970's and 1980's we had no A/C and in fact, few people did. When we moved back there in the 2000's, we bought a house that had no central A/C. The owners added a split system as it turned out to be hotter than they expected. I added three more, plus two portable A;/C units as it was hot as hell. I don't remember weather like that from my childhood, other than a week-long "hot spell" in August when the temperature would go above 80. Then again, the 1970's were an unusually cold decade for some reason. It has gotten warmer since then.
We like to travel in the summer to get away from the heat. This year, our goal is the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. But of course, to get there, we are starting out by going to Mississippi, in July, because we are idiots.
