100 Degrees

When I moved to the midwest 16 years ago, I was used to heat. I grew up in the desert southwest, where a normal summer day registered in the 100s. (Yes, it was a dry heat, and yes it really does make a difference. We lived in one house without air conditioning out there -- we used an evaporative cooling system to keep cool, and because the air was dry, this worked.)

Somewhere along the way, I picked up the idea that it just doesn't get to the 100s in the midwest. Not that it isn't hot. We more than make up for the lack of 100-degree heat with suffocatingly miserable humidity that can raise the heat index into the hundreds and kill more people than the dry heat of the southwest does.

Today proved me wrong. Here's the temperature in the shade on the north side of my house.