A long ago game of “hot enough for you,” was my teenage sense of humor making fun of a lame pick-up line.
I don’t suppose it’s all that funny now – it wasn’t then for that matter – with June lining up a terrible string of triple-digit heat days that were usually reserved for July-September.
Nowadays, heat is measured by the thermometer and the heat index, a chart combining humidity and heat to signify what the air feels like to a human.
If the temperature is in the 90s, it typically has a heat index in the 100s.
We’ve sort of gone past that.
We’re under a heat dome, the meteorologists tell us, that began in the southwest and shifted over the central U.S.
That of course means more record-breaking temperatures.
Excessive heat warnings like we’re experiencing, by the way, generally are issued once or twice a year because they require a heat of 110 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
A CNN meteorologist pointed out in a report Monday morning that when it’s this humid, you constantly look like you just ran a marathon by walking outside.
That’s because the air already has too much moisture and it keeps your sweat from evaporating, the meteorologist pointed out.
Since evaporation is the process that cools your body, you won’t cool when it is humid because there is nowhere for the sweat to go.
It feels much hotter than it is.
This whole heat dome kind of has a Stephen King touch to it, maybe because one of his novels had to do with a dome that settled over an area.
Anyway, the blast-furnace temperatures are thanks to an area of high pressure the meteorologist said is creating a clear lid over the U.S.
According to the CNN report Monday, the “lid will trap any escaping radiation and send it back to the ground while the sun’s rays continue to penetrate through.”
The dire heat wave is even more dangerous because it is happening in June, near the longest days of the year, the report points out.
The National Weather Service measures temperature in the shade and the heat index is calculated using the reading from the shade.
So, it will feel even hotter in the direct sun.
And, the NWS says this will be a long-term event. This particular torture will last all week, the meteorologist said.
It may not be Stephen King scary, but it does bring out the dread just stepping out the front door.
