...and a dewpoint of 75 isn't helping either...

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/205/nation/Statistically_experts_say_the_:.shtml

Statistically, experts say, the country's hottest day of year falls on July 24

By Jamie Stengle, Associated Press, 7/24/2001 19:51

DALLAS (AP) Statistics show that July 24 which fell on Tuesday is the hottest day of the year in the continental United States, and in many regions it lived up to its billing.

The Dallas Cowboys curtailed their practice schedule in Wichita Falls in north-central Texas. Many Floridians headed to the beach. In Texas and Arkansas, temperatures reached 100 degrees.

''It's hot. It's gone enough hot,'' said Laverne Roberts, 42, as she sat in the shade outside her apartment in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., calculates that the average maximum temperature in the nation on July 24 is 88 degrees, making it the warmest day of the year.

Jay Lawrimore, chief of the climate monitoring branch, arrived at the date by averaging the maximum temperatures at 450 weather stations nationwide between July 18 and July 29, from 1961 to 1990.

The center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, uses the arbitrary 30-year period as a baseline for temperature comparisons. The 12-day period was chosen because the earth's peak warmth typically lags at least a month behind the first day of summer.

In Minneapolis, the projected high was a relatively cool 80 degrees but plenty hot for Aaron Nunn, 32, a high-rise window washer.

''When the temperature starts to get really warm outside ... the sunlight will hit the glass and then it gets magnified,'' Nunn said. ''So you're getting cooked twice.''

On the Net:

National Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/ncdc.html

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Answers

It was unbareable tonight -and today. we are to get a break soon. I hope so! I can't take the heat well.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

After more than two weeks of 95+ weather and humidity in the 70's, we finally got a break today. Our high today was only 80 and it is currently 66 degrees. And we've gotten just over three inches of rain in the last three days--which is great for this time of year. The trees, they be asingin' :)

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Monday was very stormy. The weatherman said to prepare for more on Tuesday.

Tuesday was gorgeous! A really nice 88 degrees, the normal temp for July 24. Great ocean breeze. It was a beautiful day.

Wednesday they say is supposed to be cloudy and maybe some rain. You can be sure that it will rain on my house because I have to mow the lawn. It being 2 feet tall I think it's time.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

We've had numerous days in a row of temps over 100. Last night at 11pm it was still 91. We need rain badly. Some of the areas around here are starting watering restrictions. Sad news is that there is no end in sight. How I hate the dog days of summer.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001