The Swelter is here.

I could tell when I got out of bed this morning it was going to be a long day, hot and languorous. DC’s haze is late in coming this year, but its presence hasn’t been missed. Gone are those lovely Spring days with no humidity and a gentle breeze, and replacing them are these surly, uncomfortable days; days like your ex, the one who made you shift ever so slightly in your shoes when she talked.

Days like these are odes to St. Carrier, inventor of the air conditioner, and the only reason that DC is habitable today. I can only imagine this sort of heat in an 18th century context, with heavy woolen clothes, no air conditioning, and the best you could hope for was lightly chilled beer.

Welcome to the long swelter. According to CapitalWeather, we may been in for a summer much like 2002’s, which was one of the hottest on record. Here’s hoping we can avoid it. I remember some of those days in July of 2002, cooking on the Mall for Independence Day, and wondering just how much trouble I’d get in for going swimming in the reflecting pool.