Records

I like being around for weather records  There was something special about 1981.  It was one of those extreme season years.  In the summer of that year there were 70 days of 100 degrees or more.  It was a pain to work outside in such heat.  Fortunately, my main job was inside in that year.  In 2011, 30 years later, I was lucky enough to be in the same area and when the summer posted 71 days of intense heat above 100 degrees.  Who would have thought lightning would strike twice on that record.  I remember both summers very well.

Last August was the wettest August on record out of 120 years' worth of record keeping.  That was the precursor to a couple of other extremes this year.  January was the second coldest month on average for cold temperatures (second to a 1929 record) and the wettest January ever.  April was the wettest April, and May is on track to be the same.  There have been 42 tornadoes this year, double that of last year, but only half as much as the record year, 1994, thankfully.

I like being around when history is made.  It means you were there in the hardest (at least the most extreme) of times and survived, which makes one special in some way.  These records in weather mirror the way life works.  Seasons of life cycle around and some of them are really extreme, both highs and lows.  I remember them.  They are special because they make me a survivor.  And they give character that speaks volumes about who I am.