"I shoot in the mid-eighties. If it gets any warmer, I don't go out."
-- Marty Allen of Allen & Rossi comedy team
Here in New England, we are expecting summer-in-Florida-type temperatures for the next few days. In fact, if you want to beat the heat in Connecticut, hop a plane for Miami, where high temperatures the next three days will average about eight degrees less than the highs in Hartford.
Today, on many of the golf courses in Connecticut, the thermometer hit the 95-degree mark. A couple of days ago, weather forecasters in the Hartford area were in a sweat over the possibility of 100-degree temperatures this week, which would have surpassed the record of 99 set in 1999. It isn’t going to happen, but places like Boston and Concord, NH, may exceed the 95-degree level tomorrow. That is just not normal.
On Wednesday, anyone who braves the fairways at Vermont National Golf Club in Burlington, VT, just a half hour or so from the Canadian border, better carry plenty of liquids. Burlington expects a high of 95, seven degrees warmer than expected highs in Miami, which is a 27-hour car ride away. Mid-eighties in Miami in July may have the natives reaching for their cardigans (if they own them).
If I were advising Florida chambers of commerce, I’d suggest they hustle out as many ads as their budgets permit and point out to those of us sweltering in the north just how cool Florida is comparatively speaking. But they better make it quick. By Thursday, things return to normal, with virtually the entire southeast turning five degrees warmer than in most of New England…except in Burlington, where visiting Floridians will feel right at home.
Golfers at Vermont National in Burlington will struggle with unusual warm weather this week, warmer than Miami.
UPDATE ON TUESDAY: WEATHER FORECASTERS IN CONNECTICUT CHANGED THEIR MINDS (AGAIN) THIS MORNING. NOW THEY SAY THE MERCURY WILL REACH 100 DEGREES IN THE HARTFORD AREA TODAY. AS LONG AS THE POWER DOESN'T GO OUT DURING THE WORLD CUP BROADCAST, WE CAN LIVE WITH IT.