It’s really hot here today—92 degrees is way out of line for Seattle pretty much anytime, but the second week of July? We don’t even consider summer arrived until July 5th, and even then it’s usually iffy for a couple of weeks. Global warming? A freak of nature? An act of God? I don’t know, but an air conditioner would be nice. . .
There is no doubt, after spending more than half of my life in the Midwest and in Texas—where April temps can sometimes top 100 degrees—that I’ve become an official northwest heat weenie. I used to play tennis all summer long—outdoors—in Dallas, of all god-awful, hell-inclined climates (Dallas is surrounded on all sides, for hundreds of miles—think the Great Dustbowl—by desert and wasted prairie.) The surface of the tennis court sometimes got so hot it could literally melt the soles of my shoes. I had to keep my feet moving, or I might not make it home for supper.
But now? After nearly 20 years in Seattle? I can’t even run around Green Lake on a 75 degree day without whining. Five years ago, I remember a day in August the mercury reached 98. When I got up to go to work the next morning, the entire neighborhood was sleeping, nearly nude, on lawns and front porches.
On a day like today, people flock to the mall, or the library, or museums—anywhere they might find an air conditioner. The newspaper reported today that only 7.5% of Seattle homes have air conditioning, and duh! Why is that? Because the average daily temperature here is only 52 degrees!
Anyway, I digress. Instead of air conditioning, today I sought out the mountains. A little elevation would surely lend a cooling touch to the second hottest day of the year (tomorrow is supposed to be worse—96, and maybe higher.)
Hmmmm . . . Maybe I got a little relief, but I don’t know for sure. It was still hot enough to melt the chocolate bar I had stowed so intelligently against the bottle of ice water tucked deep in my pack.
But at any rate, I was out of the city. And that’s worth a lot. Clear skies, vistas of Monte Cristo and Glacier Peaks. An aquamarine lake, snow still clinging to the cliffs above; frigid water tumbling into a neon green meadow. Never mind the thermostat in my living room, which is north facing and shaded all day, read 88 degrees when I got home.
We have a fan, and the cooling breezes off Puget Sound. And really, we should be able to tolerate a couple of hot days (we could be in Las Vegas, where it hit 112 today.) We could—oops!
I gotta go. My computer is overheating . . .
Photos:
sun and smoke, july, 2006; Winthrop, WA
daniel, kristin, and mike in hart lake; High Divide Trail; Olympic National Park, WA
Anyway, I digress. Instead of air conditioning, today I sought out the mountains. A little elevation would surely lend a cooling touch to the second hottest day of the year (tomorrow is supposed to be worse—96, and maybe higher.)
2 comments:
Oh Peggy, it's all relative, isn't it? I covet your record temps in Seattle right now, as I'm missing my summer in this misty-56-degree Kijabe winter! As everyone at home is complaining to me (a decidedly unsympathetic ear) about the heat, I secretly hope it lasts until I return at the end of July!
i've been struggling a bit myself not to turn into "an official northwest heat weenie."
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