Please allow me to interject my feelings about Mother Nature

No MAJOR American city.

Lake Havasau City averaged 102.2 in July 1996.
Needles,Calif., averaged 100.9 in July 2006.

 

I had to pull on a fleece vest fishing a tailwater yesterday morning. It was in the 60s with 45-degree water. And while most people were enjoying the mild temperatures, it meant the Corps wasn’t running water to generate electricity. The fishing was damn tough.

 

Many years ago I went fishing with some local guys on Lake Okeechobee. At dawn, it was low to mid 60s. I was in a t-shirt and shorts. The natives were wearing flannel shirts and jackets. I spent more time laughing at them than I did fishing.

 

There are hundreds of unchecked wildfires burning in British Columbia and Alberta while Nova Scotia got almost 10 inches of rain in one 24-hour period this week. Mother Nature needs to get her shit together.

 

One of my best friends moved from Arkansas to Naples, Fla. After he'd been there a few months, he called and joked about people wearing windbreakers and sweaters when it dropped into the 70s. After five years, he was doing it too.

 

There are probably more coats in Florida than in the whole Pacific Northwest.

I’ve lived in both.

 

This kind of puts the Phoenix heat wave in perspective:

The hottest month in history - dating back to 1895 - was August of 2020. The average temperature in Phoenix was 99.1.

With less than a week left in July our average temperature is 102.9. We are on pace to break the record by 3.8 degrees.

That is beyond insane.

 

During my time in Lake Havasu City, I was told the city's three claims to fame were 1) the London Bridge; b) the first MTV spring break remote and iii) the highest recorded land temperature in the U.S. One of my duties while proofing the weather page was checking to see if the record was broken.

 

I only know of Needles thanks to Snoopy's brother, Spike.

 

I want to say 117, but I left the paper in 2006. I believe last summer's heat wave eclisped that.

 

I drove out to Palm Springs in 2005. It was, like, 105+, but it was freaky because there was no humidity. Walking around, it felt like we were continually opening an oven. The misters were nice.

Missouri in 2012 was like that. We had a month where the temp hit 100 in all but one day that month. It was hot as hell, but there was no humidity, which is the only time in my life that has happened.