Saturday, August 29, 2009

That cliche is hot

I usually live in areas with hot, humid summers. Perspiration drips off me instantly when I crack the door open. My poor towel-drying skills beccome laughable and moist becomes a state of being. Today, I'm visiting a climate where "it's a dry heat." I know of people who don't buy it. They say, "hot is hot." After a day in Phoenix where the mercury was licking the hundred teens, I am not one of those people. A temperature of 115 is a microwave on low. It makes all surfaces in the sun, particularly asphalt, radiate heat. Walking through a parking lot in mid-day with the sun beating down from above and the asphalt radiating heat upwards, leaves only a small section of my t-shirt covered torso unscorched.

It may not be fair to compare 115 and no humidity with 95 and humid, but I contend that both are fierce and fiery in very separate ways. In Phoenix the heat is sapping. In DC it seems to be more a wilter. I can't drink enough water in PHX, but in DC I can't get the sweat off of my hands fast enough.

I wonder if the difference is the difference between burning and drowning. It's been a summer filled with lovely weather, so maybe it's merely the difference between whining and crying.

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