Excessive heat

You know it's been hot when 93 degrees (the high temperature today) feels cool, and the news refers to it as a cold front.  

Now, anyone that knows me, knows that I hate the cold.  I much prefer warm weather, and probably have a higher tolerance for warm temperatures than a lot of people, but this heat has become too much even for me.

Here in Memphis, this past June was the second hottest June ever recorded, and July was the seventh hottest July ever.  The amazing thing though is that there were no record temperatures during those two months - not even one - yet we still had a top ten and a top five record for heat.  We didn't start breaking records until this past week.  On Monday, the high was 100 degrees, tying a record; on Tuesday, 104 degrees broke the record; on Wednesday, 104 degrees again broke the record; and on Thursday, it was 101 degrees (not sure if this was a record or not).  To make matters worse, the humidity is awful and so the heat index during those four days ranged from 115 degrees to 122 degrees.  AND...on top of all of that, we set (and tied) records for overnight warm lows.  The low temperatures Monday - Wednesday ranged between 82 and 84 degrees.  To give this some perspective, the average high temperature for Memphis during the month of August is 92, yet today, when the "cold front" went through, temperatures were STILL higher than normal.  And unfortunately, this heat goes way beyond uncomfortable as there have been 13 heat related deaths here this summer - the first which occurred on June 2, over two months ago...

AND, there's no relief in sight:

I know that we are not the only ones locked in the heat wave, so please be careful and try to stay cool!