As I get older, I become less and less tolerant of extreme weather: hot or cold.
I hate hot weather more though, I think. At least in the winter time, if you're cold, you can add more layers and warm yourself up pretty good. But in the summertime, you could strip off all your clothes, and still be absolutely dying from the heat.
Technically, it wasn't even the first day of summer yet, and temps sailed north of 90 degrees. It kind of makes me scared for July and August, but we live in Maine, so we never really have to deal with much hot weather on either side of the summer months.
Bangor is a hot town.
But, it did get me wondering about the heat history in our own little town of Bangor. Or at least the Bangor area in general... What and when were the hottest days in Bangor's history? And what's the hottest recorded temperature of all time here in Bangtown?
So I did a little research into the subject to see what we have in our heat basket.
Coming in at #1...
August of 1935, we hit 104 degrees here in Bangor. Can you even imagine that? Back in those days there were no air conditioners or anything that awesome, except for rich people, to try and battle the heat. And it seemed like everyone wore derby hats and full suits all the time back then. Yuck.
At #2, and so on...
We hit 99 in July of 1949... probably still no AC of any kind for the common man. June 1938 and September of 1992 tied for number three. Not far behind at number four is May of 1992. That day it got up to 96 degrees. And in the oddest showing of all, in 1990 we hit 92 degrees in April.
I remember that day vividly. I had just joined a new cover band, and our first gig was that night. It was like the third week of April, and it was scorching. The next week, I'm pretty sure the highest temp was probably around 50. Generally speaking, I'm always more excited to see the thermometer at 50 than 90.
Side note...
The modern air conditioner was invented in 1902. But... most regular people couldn't afford them. Pretty much for movie theaters and rich people only, haha. Fast forward to today where you can run to Walmart and pick one up for about $150. That just means that the times may change, but the temps stay the same....
14 Times Jeopardy! Mentioned Bangor, Maine
Gallery Credit: Jeff Tuttle
12 Activities in Maine Your Kids Will Actually Want to Do This Summer
Check Out the Best-Selling Album From the Year You Graduated High School
Gallery Credit: Jacob Osborn