104 And That's All

JULY 23 2016

Thursday the temperature in New York City hit the high 90s. The humidity soaked my shirt within a few minutes of exposure to the outside weather. I drank three large bottles of Perrier, ate a quarter of a watermelon, and downed about 5 iced beers in a vain attempt to keep up with my projectile sweating. It was almost as if my pores were spitting out fluid. Once home I took about five showers and remained cloistered in my air-conditioned apartment.

I survived the night.

Friday the weathermen were predicting heat in excess of 100. The record for New York City was 105. The hottest temperature for the NY State was recorded in Troy on July 22, 1926. The thermometer hit 108.

By midday the radio was calling Friday the hottest day in recent history.

104.

For me the heat wasn't as bad as the previous day. My friends said my brain was heat-addled. They weren't far from the truth.

The heat wave continued over the weekend, although this evening I'm feeling a slight abatement from the sweltering heat.

I even went out to shoot hoops at the park on DeKalb.

My friends once more accused me of suffering from heat madness, but this recent spike in the temperature is nothing to comparison to the grasp of the heat dome over Oklahoma and Kansas. A month of unrelenting 90+ temperature, but even that streak pales in regards to the longest heat wave in modern history.

5 months of 100+ Marble Bar, Australia during the winter of 1924.

America's worst heat wave occurred in the Dust Bowl of 1936.

101+ for over 100 days in Yuma, Arizona.

Back then hot was hot. There was no AC. Ice melted faster than butter on the red-hot frying pan.

104 was hot for New York City.

People complained so much that their wind blew away the heat.

Hot air versus hot air.

New Yorkers are # 1.

It's certainly not Kansas.