Friday, August 18, 2017

Summer Heat: Beliefs vs. Facts

I have said it many times: “This summer felt really hot, nights were unusually warm; the planet is heating up!” This repeated statement forced me to look at the records I keep on a daily basis to substantiate what I thought was true.

I have kept track of daily and nightly temperatures for the past 11 years and have a pretty good database to work with. I am talking about my definition of summer season in the mountains, namely a period that is between June 15 and August 15. Just a 62 days span and a good representation of what a short, normal summer feels like in Park City.
Granted, this summer was on top in terms of heat, particularly on account of a long series of very warm nights, but when I lined the numbers up, I was shocked to see that 2007 was almost a mirror image of this year and, in between, the nine other years were not that far off!

While I am not a global warming denier, I must admit that our little mountain town is not turning into hell quite yet!

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