The Kent Reporter today, Aug. 1, told about “A real scorcher for the Puget Sound region,” and it brought back memories of the heat wave I experienced as a teenager in Wink, Texas, in 1943.
It was a unique time, as the temperature there, it was 114 degrees and the newspaper editor took the town mayor, the chief of police, and in a frying pan, we we all saw the newspaper actually “fry eggs” in a pan on the sidewalk, and we all got to taste them.
While we knew it was hot, the frying eggs proved it was 114 degrees; however, since it was a dry heat, we closely checked it out – it really was 114 degrees hot.
The difference was the humidity – dry heat is not as bad as moist heat and it can have vastly different effects on the human body – had it been moist heat, I probably would not be here today.
Even the German POWs at the Pyote air base had never seen it so hot, and when Ronald Reagan (corporal) and his buddy “Toney” performed that night, they were happy to see the sun sink that night they performed. It did mess them up a little.
But none of us ever saw it reach 114 again in Wink, Texas.
Leon Thompson
Kent
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
