EDITORIAL: 100 again ... and rising

Jul. 19—Looks like we'll be blessed with a little more warm weather. Actually, this may seem like a funny time to say it, but let's be grateful that the weather isn't worse.

Grateful?

You bet.

Summer can get and has gotten much worse.

As far as summer heat goes, we've actually had — until June 25 — a rather decent bit of luck. That is the first time we hit 100 since July of 2018, a nearly four-year run without triple-digit heat. And in the years before that, we saw only a handful of 100-degree days — one, two or three such days per summer. Not bad.

But just like the bill for warm February days comes due, usually in March, we knew the bill for those relatively mild summers must come, too, and it sure looks like it has.

This year, we've had eight days already when temperatures have climbed to or above 100 degrees, beginning with that one June 25.

According to the National Weather Service station in Springfield, we've got another week of that coming, with highs every day getting above 100, and possibly topping out around 106 over the weekend.

The weather service says their models after that get a little bit sketchier. On the positive side, some show a possible back-door front bringing temps back down to the low 90s. Then there's models that show it getting hotter, perhaps as high as 108 early next week.

So let's be grateful for the cooler-than-normal summers we've had these last few years and remember those summers of 2011 and 2012, when much of Joplin was rebuilding from the tornado.

There were 28 days in the summer of 2012 when Joplin climbed above 100 degrees or more, with a high of 109; there were 31 days in 2011 when we hit triple digits, and the high that summer was 110.

We've been through worse. And survived.

We can be grateful for that.

And while we're at it, let's be grateful for homemade ice cream and air conditioning and swimming pools and garden hoses and sprinklers. Let's be grateful for all those shade trees, and for spring-fed Ozark rivers, which can feel too cold even when it's above 100 degrees, and for Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock, Beaver, Stockton lakes and all the rest.

We've gotten through this before. Let's just remember how.

We've gotten through it by looking out for our neighbors and each other. We've gotten through by slowing down during the worst of the heat. So what if some things don't get done? We've gotten through this by using some common sense when the heat is on, by staying out of it when possible, watching out for our pets, too. You know the drill.

With apologies to Johnny Cash ...

How high is the temperature, papa?

100 degrees and rising.

The yard's turned brown ... the garden's dead.

107 is this week's dread.

Looks like we're blessed with warm weather ahead.

100 degrees and rising.