It is a Dry Heat
Woman in the Middle | October 4, 2014Here it is, the first weekend in October, and it was 101 F yesterday and it supposed to be that hot again today. I spent yesterday morning in a building that was so cold they could have stored meat to generate extra income. I came out about noon and climbed into my car, which had been sitting in the sun all morning. Usually, when I get into a hot car on a hot day I can’t roll the windows down fast enough, but not yesterday. I sank into that burning heat and just said “Ahhhh….” A couple of miles later I finally put on the air conditioning, Even so, ten minutes later my toes were still cold!
As the day wore on, hot as it was, the heat just wasn’t bothering me as much as I thought it would. I figured it was my stint in the ice box that was sticking with me. Then, last night, I met hubby at our local VFW for their regular Friday night dinner. Event though it was 6:45, the car said it was still over 90. But when I got out of the car and was walking across the parking lot towards Hubby, I thought, “This isn’t so bad.” That was when I realized, it was a dry heat!
All the time I was growing up, I heard my Southern raised mother say, every single summer, “But its a dry heat.” Our heat isn’t so dry any more. But we are having a Santa Ana condition right now which usually brings wind, but, even if it doesn’t, it sucks every drop of moisture out of the air. I can now officially say, heat + low humidity is better than heat + moisture. Heck, on the way home my car said it was still 82 F and yet it felt so cool. I came home and threw open the windows and Eldest never said, even once, “It’s so hot in here!” That was one dry heat miracle for sure!!
You (and your Mom) are so right about dry heat feeling better. I once lived in Arizona where we had a “swamp cooler.” No air conditioning but this thing operated best on dry hot air. Whatever it was, it took all the moisture out of the house and voila – cool comfort!
I can relate with this post in two ways. First, my son’s college orientation. It was it June or July. Can’t remember, but it was hot! high 90′s plus the humidity which made it miserable!(more on that in a minute) The rooms we were in were freezing! I couldn’t wait for breaks so I could go outside an warm up.
Second, I live in the deep south with the humidity. Dry heat is so much better because your sweat can actually evaporate and help you feel cooler. Most says here, your sweat just beads up on you and it feels like you are in a sauna! Right now, I’m loving fall with the cooler temps and lower humidity.
This weather in So CA is so crazy! This weekend I was trying to get over a cold because of the weather change. Today, it was so hot that I had the air conditioning on in my car.