Hot Summer Ahead

By Guy Chapman – Navarro County Gazette

Yes We Can

It’s been a weird year for weather, hasn’t it?

I’m watching the afternoon’s rainstorm fade away, the first shower in a few weeks. Before that, it seemed like it was constant weeks of nothing but rain. Part of me thinks as a standard, we’re never truly happy with the weather, unless you live in San Diego, where temperatures are pretty much average all year long.

After last winter, I’m a little wary of this upcoming summer. We’ve already gotten ERCOT warnings in mid-June, which doesn’t fill me with a high amount of confidence. July and August are where the summer temps really kick off, and I’m over here wondering about a back-up plan in case our system can’t handle it again.

Weather is perhaps one of the few universal subjects everyone can still agree on. No one likes being too hot or too cold. People are grossed out by humidity. Too much of any weather type is simply “too much,” unless its clear skies and moderate temperatures.

In trying to figure out how to best prepare for this summer took a moment to research average Texas temperatures. The summer of 2011 comes up a lot as being the hottest summer on record, with places such the following Texas cities recording days of 100 degrees or greater:

Wichita Falls – 100 days
Austin – 90 days
Dallas-Fort Worth – 71 days
Houston – 46 days

The summer of 2011 wasn’t even the hottest of Texas days. The top five hottest days on Texas record were:

120 degrees – August 12, 1936 – Fort Worth and Seymour (though June 28, 1994 caused a few days around Texas)
117 degrees – June 28, 1980 – Witchita Falls
116 degrees – June 27, 1994 – Midland-Odessa
114 degrees – June 30, 1994 – El Paso (though June 23, 2018 in Waco later tied)
113 degrees – June 26 and 27, 1980 – Dallas-Fort Worth

Having lived in Las Vegas for about a decade, that was an average summer (but it’s a dry heat). It’s the sort of temperature where raindrops dissolve upon contact when they hit the pavement, and you really can fry an egg on the sidewalk.

But ERCOT is saying this summer won’t match those record temperatures from a decade ago, which is fine as long as we have the air conditioning to back it up. Of course, if we have the shenanigans of last February happen again in a warmer setting, I think we’ll be coming together again as a community to host the biggest pool party this state has ever seen.

I’ll bring a cooler, but I don’t know who’s going to bring the ice.

I may invest in a generator before this season is over….

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