It won't even be July until this coming Sunday but the
central United States is right in the middle of a huge, dry high
pressure system. This means no rain to speak of and dangerously
hot temperatures.
I'll tell you the story in Fahrenheit and Celsius so
those of you in the UK can gloat if you like.
Yesterday when I walked home from work, it was 103 F or
39.4 C. A check this morning of the statistics for yesterday
lists our high of 106 or 41.1 C but I don't know when we reached
it. It probably was mostly 103 or 104.
When I walk to work, I leave the house at 7 and get here
by 7:25 or 7:30 and it is already 27.2 or 81 during the walk.
The Sun is out and it really feels hot, already.
The broadcast news media are full of dire warnings of
what will happen to you if you don't drink lots of water and
do work or play too hard.
The construction sites around the campus are already
buzzing with activity as those workers take advantage of the
early light and relatively cooler temperatures and try to finish
by 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
This place is positively dead by 4 when I leave work and
go home. You can walk for blocks and be passed by the occasional
car or hear some fool mowing or doing yard work, but mostly, you
hear the wind, the buzzing of cicadas and other insects such as
grass hoppers who awkwardly fly up from your feet as you walk.
This is accompanied by the hum of every working air conditioner
around.
Last night, we were finishing up dinner. My father ate
with us and we noticed that the house seemed to be getting a bit
warm.
Our air conditioner had joined the silent world save for
a low hum which was not right. It is supposed to be making all
kinds of noise but it had died.
I checked all the things I knew to check and we called a
technician. Those guys and girls are busy as they can be this
time of year, here so they work from dark to dark.
This guy, actually, two guys came out and diagnosed the
problem and had our cooling system going again by some time
after ten and these calls are not cheap on evenings and
weekends. I'm just glad it was not the compressor as that would
have cost a lot more and we would have been without air
conditioning for probably a couple of days.
Anyway, Summer in Oklahoma usually revolves around
keeping cool and wishing for Nature's air conditioning in about
5 more months. It is just horrible. This Summer, so far, is much
like last Summer where we set all kinds of records.
In many years, we only reach 40 C or around 100 F a
couple of times in the whole Summer, but we had whole months
last summer and it could happen again this year.
I'm waiting for the usual report on TV where they show
exploded thermometers and melted items taken from inside parked
cars.
Last Summer, Bev accidentally left a six-pack of soda in
the back seat of our car and two of the cans exploded with their
tops looking like open mouths.
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