On June 23, the temperature in South Florida hit 99, at least according to my weather app. The app, in fact, had been calling for a high of 100. This temperature is more in line with August or September when temps in the 90s are combined with incredibly muggy air. But temperatures like this in June are unusual.
Rob was doing some yard work and Noah was outside with him, hoping Rob would toss him a ball or Frisbee. After five or ten minutes, they couldn’t stand it anymore. They dragged themselves into the house, into the air-conditioning, Noah panting hard, and Rob exclaiming how the heat was a “scorcher.”
We usually take Noah to the dog park between four and five, but it was just too hot. Even at 6 PM, the temperature was 94 and still had that “scorched” feeling to it. “Scorcher” and “scorched” became our favorite words for describing how hot it was. Scorcher, scorched, scorcher, scorched, one a noun, the other a verb.
We decided to take Noah to the park after dinner, when it might be moderately less of a “scorcher.” Rob put some chicken breasts on the grill and I went back to work until dinner. Suddenly, he comes into the house carrying the plate with our chicken breasts on it.
“The temperature on the grill went nuts! The chicken breasts are scorched!” I could almost hear the trickster chuckling when I snapped a photo.
Fortunately, the chicken was still edible, just blackened on the outside.
Awhile later, I clicked onto Huffington Post and saw a headline announcing that May was the hottest month – globally – in recorded history. How did the article open? “This past May was a scorcher.”
I think that’s a cluster for SCORCHER.
The picture of the sun on this post made me squint my eyes just out of habit. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s crazy hot outside. I love to garden and have to spend a lot of time outside pruning and planting and there are times I just rush to the outdoor shower and stand under the cool water so I don’t keel over from the heat. Thank God for the afternoon rains.
Yay for the afternoon rains! It’s raining here right now – bands from that tropical system swirling around out there.
Just 99 degrees? That’s downright chilly!
But then, I live in Arizona. We only have two seasons, summer, and the Inferno.
Funny – or maybe not!
You write: “On June 23” “had been calling for a high of 100”.
Just read your post again and the above two phrases leapt out at me. On June 23rd my mother would have been 100! I’d just been looking through her photos before I read the post.
I was an only child and my parents had me in ‘late in life’.
A date synchro, mike!
Ha! Yes, that’s a cluster for sure. It reached 76 here yesterday, and it almost seemed too hot for me. But then again, I’m not used to what it feels like at 80 degrees. When I was in southern California in April, it was 95 degrees, 20 degrees warmer than normal, and I was really miserable. Hope you get a respite soon, Trish. I laughed at those scorched chicken breasts. 🙂
76 sounds downright chilly!
That’s funny!
The scorched chicken WAS funny!
99F – that’s hot! Our high temperatures and sunshine (in Cornwall) ended yesterday with heavy rain and this morning it’s raining too. I’ve seen the word ‘scorcher’ used in UK headlines too – though it hasn’t been anywhere as scorching as where you are.
Scorcher is such a powerful word….
Scorcher is definitely the word of the day
🙂