When I was a wee lad, I had a football coach who said that God made it hotter in August to get the players ready for the long football season. It sort of made sense. From May to July, thunderstorms would come and go and keep the heat in check. It was just warm enough to have fun - pool, sports, and exploring. But not so hot you preferred inside activities. And then came August.
Being centrally located in the United States, the jet stream, which steers most of the major disturbances, often does some strange things in August. Chief among these is lifting up over Texas and then dropping, freezing (pardon the pun), high-pressure systems over Texas, and sometimes the entire Southwest. This leads to triple digits and brutal stretches until the jet stream repositions, or a major hurricane hits Texas, breaking up the party.
That is exactly what is happening at present. Normally, I am fending off ridiculous claims of climate change during heat waves. Yes, in Summer, it gets warmer. And in the Fall and Winter, the temperatures drop; sunrise, sunset - nothing new under the sun. But surprisingly, those people have moved on to hating Jews and starting a communist revolution in the United States.
So Texans make jokes about the heat, and endure. And if you're old enough, share your memories of the hottest Summer ever - 1980. That year we had 42 consecutive days with triple-digit heat (June 23 to August 3).
I remember it quite well. I worked at a car wash as a steamer at 15 years old. It was over 100, I was covered in heavy clothes to protect my skin from the steam wand pushing soapy water out at over 200°F. It got so hot I developed a nasty case of Prickly Heat. If you've never had it, be thankful. It's kind of a heat rash, and it is not pleasant. It was miracle I survived without having a heat stroke.
