It is hot—interminably hot—here in South Carolina. I can only imagine how much worse it is for our senior correspondent, Audre Myers, down in Florida. My European readers will struggle to comprehend the kind of heat we’re experiencing. I still can’t comprehend entire nations in the developed world that don’t have air-conditioning; it is truly a privilege for Europeans to have the luxury of not having A/C, much less not having to run it constantly.
I’ve often referred to the South in the summer as akin to living on the surface of Venus. Our poisonous gas atmosphere is in the form of humidity—breathable, but barely. Imagine walking outside and feeling not just heat, but a kind of all-encompassing clamminess that somehow manages to make you feel even hotter. Yes, you can get acclimated if you’re willing to stay out in it long enough, but you have to drink constantly, as the combo of heat and humidity is constantly sucking moisture from your body.
The Portly Politico 