Lake Travis was so low that it looked like an archipelago.

Last summer was intolerable — I can’t tell you how depressing it was to see 100 degree temperatures day in and day out like that. It was the warmest summer on record, breaking a record set 156 years ago (the 30 days from June 23-July 22 averaged 89.7 degrees F — that’s a combination of high and low daily temperatures). We were above 100 degrees for 68 days, only one day short of breaking the all time record of 69. It was also a very dry summer — June 2009 saw only 1.03 inches of rain, vs. June 2010’s 4.15.

As of July 12th 2010, it has not hit 100 once. And that’s not that uncommon — Austin didn’t hit 100 at all for several years in the 1970’s. We’re currently trending a few degrees below last year, which puts us slightly above average for the past hundred or so years, but is noticeably better than 2009. I actually feel kind of comfortable in the evenings. It helps that I currently don’t seem to leave the house until 7PM, when it’s much more reasonable outdoors.

My northern readers might still think this is all pretty long and pretty hot. To that, I say, “yes”. We all know I’d much rather have a Seattle, San Francisco or Boston climate to deal with. I deal with the steaminess by listening to this song, over and over:

The Style Council — Long Hot Summer (12″)

Something tells me Paul Weller doesn’t really know what a hot summer feels like.

Seriously, if I thought the heat would have been this bad, I would have become a panhandler in Portland like everyone else is doing. For the record, the average high in August (i.e. next month, and therefore a warmer month) is 95. We have hit 100 degrees or more 23 times this year, and it looks like we will hit 100 each day for at least the next 5 days.

Now, I know that plenty of civilizations survive and even thrive in languid three-digit territory — after all, look at Cairo, Dubai (that’s really just South Korean machinery, British white-collar workers, and Allah’s oil, I know, but I digress), Tucson and Phoenix. But that doesn’t mean I survive or thrive when it’s over 90 degrees by 11AM. That doesn’t mean that I should get used to sweating bullets right after breakfast.

My new car has no A/C at the moment (the bolts for something or other are on back order), but it does have a drop-top, so as long as I go over 55mph, I am not caked in my own perspiration. Either way, it’s a sort of lame homecoming to be back in Austin during its worst heat wave since the 1950’s. In the 50’s, Austin’s city limits ended at Koenig Lane and Ben White, and where I commute from (Cedar Park) and where I commute to (Sunset Valley) didn’t exist at all, except in the post-apocalyptic dreams of exurbanite homesteaders. 50 miles round trip in 100 degree heat still sucks, even in a little blue convertible.

When I was younger, when it would hit 100, it would do so in late July or through August, never in June. It is so hot now that I am sweating by 9AM. And don’t let people fool you, Austin is one of the worst cities for heat, because it retains the humidity of the Gulf of Mexico, but is far enough away from a major body of water to allow for high temperatures — so you get the triple digits of Tucson and most of the humidity of Houston. I won’t see a 60 degree evening until late September, I bet.

Oh, the irony…