We had big plans to spend the entire day today outdoors at "Celebration at the Station."

This has been a tradition with us for many years. In the past, we have always enjoyed a day outside filled with all kinds of activities, good food, a concert; all topped off with a fantastic 45 minutes firework display over Liberty Memorial. For 15 years, Celebration at the Station has been a great way to enjoy the unofficial start of Summer in the "Big Town." However, the weather has usually been in the 70's (occasionally as warm as the low 80's but with a breeze). Normal high for this date is 77 degrees. Generally, Summertime humidity has not yet arrived. So a day spent outside Memorial Day weekend is usually a pleasant day.

This year was the 16th Year for Celebration at the Station. But we stayed home. Sigh.

After doing a few early morning, unpleasantly warm & humid, outdoor chores at home, we both ended up soaked to the skin from the heat (just starting to build) and high humidity.

That's why we agreed that spending all day (from 11AM on)outside in the boiling sun would not be a very good idea. There would be no shade. Just hour after hour in the relentless sun. Although we do have a sun umbrella for our lawn chairs, that little umbrella would not at all protect us from what turned out to be a 98 degree day with high humidity and a heat index of 107 degrees. The local weather tonight said that today was hotter than most Forth of Julys are here!!! That's hot since July 4th can be quite toasty.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky today and not even a faint hint of a breeze. So we were probably wise to stay home. The National Weather Service had issued a Heat Advisory to run until 9 PM.

The local news tonight said that hospitals had to treat many for heat related problems.

I have mixed feelings about today. I'm disappointed that we abandoned our original plans. On the other hand, I'm glad we opted to stay where we able to pop into A/C as soon as the heat started to feel overwhelming. It was a miserable day to be outside for very long. Although we didn't do what we had planned to do, we were still in & out all day. Nevertheless, it was sooooo HOT. And oppressively humid. The humidity IMO was worse than the heat alone.

Tomorrow is again going to be just as hot and humid. Another record high is being predicted.

So for Memorial Day, we're once again going to change our outdoor plans. We'll be doing a couple of things outside, but for the most part, we'll stick to things where we'll be able to seek the comfort of air conditioning. Instead of grilling outside (like we did tonight), tomorrow will be dinner at one of the wonderful, local BBQ restaurants.

The heat wave is supposed to continue for at least the next 7 days.
I sure hope that the entire Summer isn't like this.

See yesterday's photo: http://www.pbase.com/britestar/image/167547084