Some like it hot... me, not so much

Back in 1901, folks in Denver were having a rather warm time of it. 18 days in a row of temperatures over 90 degrees. Of course, the average person probably didn't know that. I don't know if they had information like weather forecasts (or results) in the papers back then, but I'm quite sure they didn't have any overly perky meteorologists broadcasting straight into their living rooms from news station "back yards." So they probably didn't realize, at the time, that they were setting a record that would not be broken for over a century. They probably just knew that it was reeaally freakin' hot, and they didn't have air conditioning (...but then again, neither do I).

But we've sure heard a lot about 1901 in Denver lately. Why, you might ask? Oh, I'll tell you! That would be because, day by day, the aforementioned perky meteorologists-- and even the somewhat more serious anchors and reporters, everyone's in on the countdown!-- have been ticking off the days till that record is met, broken, and thoroughly stomped upon.

Today was tie day. For the last 18 days, counting today, we've had days of over 90 degrees. Many of those well over 90. Today we were 10 degrees above average, at 99. We've had days that were 10 degrees hotter than Phoenix. (And we get more sunburned, too, so don't even start whining, Phoenix. We know all of your apartments have A/C.)

Tomorrow will be the day we break that record. The only question is, where will it end?

No one knows. Not even the overly perky meteorologists. But yes, I am quite confident-- as are all those who actually seem sort of excited about this rather dubious distinction in the pages of weather history-- that the record will be broken. Tomorrow has a predicted high of 99 degrees (the record for that day was 100, set in 1899... so we may be about to put an end to some even more long-lived records). Friday, 100. Saturday, 101 (are we noticing a trend here?... thank goodness I'll be on a plane by the time that high hits!) Sunday, 97. By the time Monday rolls around, there will be a "cool down" (and they WILL refer to it in such terms!) for a high of a mere 92. I'm sort of scared to look beyond that. What I do know is that as of today, we've already had 3 more days over 90 degrees than the average Denver summer has all season. We're also about 7 inches behind on rain. I think we've had about 3.5 inches of precipitation of any kind since New Year's. That includes all the snow that people in Michigan (Michigan?? REALLY, people??) warned me about, when I was first heading Colorado-ward.

So anyway, that's what I'm doing. Lots of being hot and wilting. Not cleaning my apartment, which desperately needs it, because it is too hot to move. Not sleeping very well, despite desperately needing it, because it is too hot to sleep. Not eating much when at home, despite desperately liking food, because it is too hot to live off pretty much anything but fruit smoothies and iced tea.

Hot, hot, hot. I like it not.

So anyway, while contemplating all of this this evening, while folding baby socks and melting on my futon, I wondered what Denver was like back in the 1901 that I've heard so much about of late. So I googled it, and this picture is supposedly of Denver around that time ("circa 1898"). Well, it is definitely of Denver-- the Brown Palace hotel is still standing, 16th and Broadway still meet at that angle, and the mountains still loom in the background-- but much else has changed, so it is a little strange to try and decipher what is what, and imagine the things that are now in those places.


Speaking of things in places, this picture was reportedly taken from the top of the State Capitol... which means that if the photographer turned around in just about the opposite direction, the spot where my apartment now stands would be about 4 blocks away. In the picture, if you follow Broadway (the gray-paved road in the foreground that looks slanty, but actually runs North-South) just a couple of blocks beyond where it would run off the right side of the picture, there is where my work is now.

So, for those friends & family afar who want to see where I live... that's it. Sort of. Just 110 years earlier. And not quite as hot.