Anyone who’s accidentally brushed against a searing seat-belt buckle this week knows: summer has hit the broiler setting in North Texas, and it’s just going to get worse.
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory through Saturday and says the next week will feel as hot as 109 degrees. Some forecasts have triple digit temperatures for the next 15 days.
Not all North Texans are fleeing for air conditioning.
On a still, 97-degree day at Dallas’ Reverchon Park, the Katy Trail should be empty, right?
Guess again.
“Yeah, it sucks, but you just kind of get out here and deal with it,” Erik Trent says. “You get used to it too.”
Trent is flat out running at 1 p.m. in August.
“It’s hot but it’s beneficial because you sweat everything out,” Trent says. “You get twice as much calories burned, I feel like anyways, in the time that you would spend in the fall when it’s cool out.”
Trent seems to have everything under control. But a little farther down, trail manager Bill Williams has deployed the heavy equipment.
“We’re using a thermometer gun to determine how hot the trail is right now on the concrete, and it’s 123.5 degrees,” Williams says.
Just imagine if you were walking the trail on four legs.
“I’ve rescued a lot of dogs out here,” Williams says. “And actually seen two die.”
Williams patrols the trail on a golf cart, armed with water and ice just in case someone, or someone’s pet, needs help. And the challenge gets even bigger the hotter it gets.
Amanda Schroeder is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
“Afternoon temperatures are going to range between 100 and 105. But because of the high humidity values the heat index values are going to range between 105 and 109,” she says.
And that will be true for at least week. Schroeder says a “cold front” could drop us out of the triple digits for a day or two, outside of that, it’s more of the same. And it’s not even unusual.
“This isn’t one for the record books or anything, right now. It doesn’t appear that way,” Schroeder says. “It’s Texas in August, that’s just the way it is.”
Back out on the frying pan known as the Katy Trail, 24-year-old Craig Archibald has made peace with life here.
“The A.C. is pretty fantastic in Texas. But not the bills,” he says.
Which may explain why he’s turned up the thermostat and ventured out of the house, even if what’s waiting for him outside is a good roasting.
