McClure Pool, located at 7440 E. 7th St., opened for business on the first weekend in June for the 2012 summer season. KT King/Tulsa World
At the cookout I went to Sunday evening, it was tank top, cutoff jean shorts and flip flops. My friend said to me, “you look like summer.”
I certainly felt like summer in the hot, humid afternoon despite it still technically being spring.
When it comes to seasons, the few days before a season change fall into the category of “close enough.”
But as of 6:09 p.m. Wednesday, it will officially and legally (I guess?) be summer.
Wednesday is the Summer Solstice, when the Earth is at the point in its orbit that the northern hemisphere most directly faces the Sun. It is the point when the Sun is furthest north in sky and is the longest day of the year.
This is opposed to the other season changes on the equinoxes and winter solstice (equinoxes in the fall and spring when the Earth is equidistant from the solstices and winter being the opposite of summer solstice, obviously)
While we haven’t seen the highs we had last year, it’s been pretty consistently in the 90s for several days this month, which is just a bit warmer than average, as Althea
mentioned yesterday.
But as summer marches on, the temperatures march up. How high can we expect? Well, the Climate Prediction Center’s most recent outlook says pretty high.
Like a
bull’s-eye in the middle of the country, above-average temperatures are highly likely over the next six to 10 days, with the trend continuing out for the next two weeks, though it isn’t as pronounced.
The precipitation chances aren't that much more encouraging.
The forecast calls for temperatures to flirt with 100 in the next week, which will be a first for 2012.
I always look forward to summer, but that’s usually during spring and winter and before it’s too hot to even look outside. And in late summer, I can’t wait for fall and winter. Maybe it’s wanting what I can’t have, or the desire for what’s to come, never being fully satisfied?
But this year, so far, I am living summer. Pooltime and sitting outside on patios and sunshine. It’s fantastic.
How do you enjoy the summer? Let me know your favorite summer activities in the comments, or give me a shout over on the
Twitters.
As you lament the heat wave that will eventually arrive, grab a cold drink and a fan and head to the porch with me to enjoy those summer nights with a little help from Ella and Gershwin. It’s summertime.
--Jerry Wofford
