It's Hot

It takes a lot of courage
to release the familiar...
—Alan Cohen

It's a heat wave—the third one this summer and the humidity is listed as oppressive. Years ago the meteorologists reported the Discomfort Index which was simply a calculation of temperature and humidity. As a PR device it lacked any merit—at least for those places experiencing great discomfort.

Why visit a place marked with a high discomfort index?

Ridding our weather reports of that valuable marker is another reminder of how we shave the truth with words. Reporting the humidity and temperature as separate and allowing the listener to blend them together to get a sense of the feel of the weather is another refusal to state the uncomfortable truth.

Will I be any cooler if I hold each unit separately?

Now it is called the Comfort index and includes other factors such as the possibility of precipitation , how much if any wind, and cloud cover.

Today I watched a leaf attempt to flutter—unsuccessfully. Occasionally a cloud hid a relentless sun and the only precipitation was sweat.

Fortunately our weather person does say things like—oppressive.

"Most people are quite uncomfortable when the heat index is 70 or higher in the oppressive range."

I appreciate his forthright words even though he eschews saying "the discomfort index". Just tell it like it is. I can handle the truth.