The Heat Is On

According to tomorrow's newspaper (ahh, the wonders of the Web), it finally broke 100 degrees at DFW Airport for the first time this year, at 2:56 this afternoon. That's the sixth-latest first occurrence of the century mark since such things have been recorded.

It really has been a nice, mild, rainy summer up to this point, so I won't complain. I do feel bad for my high-schoolers, who must be cursing the fact that it waited until they started marching band practice to get really hot. But overall, the utility bills at Casa de Kev have been low this summer, and, despite having to run the car A/C almost constantly, gas is even going down at the moment (I paid $2.56 for regular unleaded earlier this afternoon), so I won't begrudge Mother Nature a little hot streak.

And besides, this would appear to be good news:

While 100-degree temperatures are common enough well into September, the slow decline of daylight that began with the summer solstice almost two months ago is beginning to have its effect.

Statistically, normal daily highs begin falling next week, marking the long drift toward autumn. Although the relief exists only on paper, [National Weather Service Meteorologist Alan] Moller said it would take another strong high-pressure ridge to trigger another string of 100-degree days.

“For the moment, we don't see anything that strong,” he said.

Being a Lileks fan, I'm a regular reader of the site buzz.mn, and it was amusing, as we approached our first triple-digit day, to read that the trees are already starting to turn in Minnesota.

A ZZ Top song come to life: Remember the old song "Arrested for Driving While Blind"? It really happened in Estonia not too long ago. Even worse--he was also drunk.

I guess every teenager is trendy now: The latest interior design craze is...an unmade bed.

Creature feature #1: A crocodile in Russia fell out of a 12th-floor window and lived.

Creature feature #2: A man and his son found a rattlesnake on their property. The man decapitated it with a shovel, and its severed head bit him anyway.