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It's Hot Out There, But Dallas Is Hotter

A fire truck and vehicles behind it shimmer as hot air from Highway 30 south of Modale, Iowa, bends light rays. The temperature setting is stuck on broil across a swath of the Midwest and the South, with Dallas and Oklahoma City suffering through 100-degree heat for weeks in a row.
Nati Harnik
/
AP
A fire truck and vehicles behind it shimmer as hot air from Highway 30 south of Modale, Iowa, bends light rays. The temperature setting is stuck on broil across a swath of the Midwest and the South, with Dallas and Oklahoma City suffering through 100-degree heat for weeks in a row.

July was scorching. The National Weather Service says it was the warmest month on record in Washington, D.C.(84.5) Oklahoma City (89.2) and Wichita Falls (92.9). And the stifling heat will continue in the Southern and Central Plains, this week.

But as you wipe that sweat off your brow, think about Dallas. The city is in the midst of a 30-day streak of triple-digit temperatures. That is the second hottest streak in history.

If that doesn't make you feel any cooler, think of Dallas in 1980. The Dallas Morning News reports:

And while the longest streak — 42 days in 1980 — could now be within sight, [John Blake, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service for Dallas-Fort Worth] said this summer's heat doesn't really rival the heat of that year.

"It's been hot so far this summer, but it's nothing compared to 1980," he said.

That year there was a streak of 28 days above 105 degrees, he said, and this summer there have been only three.

A high-pressure system is sitting on top of North Texas, so there's not a drop of rain in sight.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.