It has been extremely hot and humid these past two weeks in Raleigh with blazing sunshine and temps reaching the upper 90s everyday. I’ve had to adjust my dog walking schedule so that the dogs and I aren’t setting ourselves up for heat exhaustion or burnt pad pads.
Even so, by the end of our walks, regardless of what time of day it is, I’m soaked in sweat and the dogs need to lay on the floor in the air conditioning to cool off.
For the first time in my life, I’ve actually thought, “Maybe I need to move somewhere cooler.” If climate change means dealing with temps between 95-106 for days on end, it might be reason enough to move. Between my workouts and my dog walks, I’m either outside walking or in my un-air conditioned garbage for several hours every day.These recent days have been exhausting.
Being curious, I checked the weather in various places around the country. Almost everywhere it’s the same – with high humidity, temps over 90 and little relief.
There are a few places where temperatures are less extreme – like San Francisco, Chicago, mountain resort areas, breezy coastal cities and some Mediterranean locales. But I’m not moving to any of those places because they are either too expensive, get too cold in the winter or are unappealing for other reasons.
It seems hotter to me this year than in the past so I checked the historical forecasts for the decade or so when I lived in Raleigh.
It’s not much hotter. We’ve had a couple of days where “record highs” were a few degrees higher, but overall, this time of the year it’s always been in the mid to upper 90s as far back as when I first moved here in 2012. I don’t remember it being as hot back then because I was younger, my little dog didn’t walk as much and I spent most daylight hours indoors at work.
After all, it is July.
That’s been a good sanity check for me.
July is hot almost everywhere.
This is not a denial of climate change. Clearly, the world has gotten warmer during my lifetime. For now, my plan is to accept it and make adjustments as best I can without relocating.