heat

Call them transplants, or snowbirds, or whatever you want to call them, but we all know at least one person from the Rockford area who has moved out to the Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa area, also known as "The Valley of the Sun." I'm willing to bet that they'd love to experience a Rockford winter day right about now.

People who've lived around this area for a while know that most winters are lengthy, dreary, mostly snowfall-free (lately), and really, really cold. That's just the way it is, and we deal with it. Sure, there's some complaining, but we mostly just soldier on, confident in the knowledge that we'll have a nice two-day Spring, then head into the blast furnace.

As I write this, Rockford's current temperature reading is only 84 degrees. However, before the day is out, we'll see temps over 90 degrees with a heat index that goes even higher. The next several days may bring even warmer temperatures--maybe even as high as 95.

Summer is finally here. At least Mother Nature says that with the hot weather we are experiencing.

Starting Friday, the Forest City is going to get a whole lot warmer. How much warmer? Well, with the projected high temperature on Friday expected to hit 93, and up to 95 degrees on Saturday, we might be looking at new state records. We may not make it, but we will be in the over-heated ballpark.

I just finished an article called "Top 5 Ways to Beat the Heat." The article takes on the topic of battling summer heat very seriously, offering up thoughtful solutions like: Buy an air-conditioner Buy a dehumidifier Embrace Ceiling Fans (not literally ... Read More ...

The photo above is part of campaign in Great Britain to educate people on the dangers of leaving their dogs in a hot car during the summer, even if you only leave the dog for a few minutes. The ice sculpture dogs are part of the overall awareness campaign, by showing that a dog will "melt away" (or die, in real life) in about 20 minutes during summer heat...

Judging by over 500,000 Facebook views and thousands more views on YouTube, lots of people feeling the heat agree with Eric Cornell, an "author, public speaker, singer, master image/hair stylist and Cre8tive Solutions Coach." Eric was in Columbia, South Carolina, and suffering through an extreme heatwave...

Having fallen into the deep freeze ourselves, it's easy to think that it doesn't get much colder than it is right now (or will be within the next couple of days). Of course, we would be quite wrong in thinking that. Lots of places, or rather, the people who live in lots of places would gladly switch what they're living with for what we have going on atmospherically here in northern Illinois... Rea