By Guy Chapman – Navarro County Gazette
When I was a teenager, one of my favorite video games was Super Mario Bros. 3. A classic by today’s standards, one of the levels focused on Mario running through the desert while the overhead sun would swoop down from the sky and give chase in an attempt to cook the mustachioed hero.
I feel like that is the most accurate description I can give for this year’s summer.
To date, the summer of 2022 has had 29 days of 100-plus degree weather (a normal Texas season usually only sees 20 days). As of July 24, 20 of this month’s days have reached those high temperatures. As of right now, this is the third hottest summer recorded in Texas.
I tell you, for someone who lived about a decade in Las Vegas, and got used to 115-117 degree summers, this is remarkably and surprisingly grueling, especially since Vegas’ heat was merely of the humidity-free, eyeball drying variety. At least the heat wave broke by Halloween.
Don’t expect relief this week, either: There’s more 100-plus weather ahead. This weekend however, there’s some potential for rain around North Texas, and Saturday may merely hit 98 degrees, so any relief is good, I suppose.
Growing up here, I don’t remember summers being this hot. Sure, there was the occasional streak of hotter than usual weather, but there was some relief found with a rainstorm or a temperature drop.
Of course, it’s not just Texas. The whole country is hotter than usual, and places such as London in the United Kingdom and Tokyo in Japan are dealing with record breaking temperatures, the likes of which they’ve never experienced before. “Burn bans” seem to be becoming more common.
I hope this is not the “new normal” of things to come. The weather patterns are becoming concerning. And candidly, in my own reporting of weather, I’d really like the opportunity to mix up updates other than “It’s hot. Again.”
I hope it comes soon.
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