Hot summer evokes flashbacks for Midwesterners

To put things in perspective, here’s how oppressive the Flathead Valley’s heat wave has been: The summer weather in Minnesota has been more pleasant lately than Northwest Montana.

I was in my home state for a week in mid-June and was treated to temperatures in the low to mid-70s, relatively low humidity (for Minnesota) and  refreshing summer rainfall. I didn’t even have to take a bath in Deep Woods Off before I helped with some odd jobs out at the farm.

Those of us Midwesterners who found our way to the Flathead Valley — and there are a lot of you — know what I’m talking about. We endured those endless summer nights that never cooled down before we found sanctuary here. I still remember lying in bed as a young girl, drenched in sweat and praying for sleep to come.

In the era of my youth we didn’t even have fans at our house, which seems like cruel and unusual punishment, since I’m pretty sure fans had been invented by the 1960s! I’m also pretty sure my parents could have afforded a fan or two, but we endured the misery because we simply didn’t know any better.

By morning we’d often still be sweaty because the nights in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and any number of Midwest states stay hot and humid.

We’ve gone soft, of course, living in the Flathead. We brag about not needing air conditioners here because after the heat of the day we know that by morning cool mountain air will be wafting in our windows. We pull a blanket over us and think how lucky we are to live in such a climate.

In a typical year we see maybe four or five days in the 90s and air-conditioning just doesn’t seem necessary. A person can put up with a lot of hot weather during the day, knowing relief is just a few hours away when we close our eyes.

This summer and its relentless 90-plus degree heat day after day after day have been testing us.

There even have been a few days when it hasn’t cooled off overnight to our liking, and we Midwesterners are having flashbacks, perhaps even post-traumatic stress, of those unbearable summer nights of yore.

We’re thinking seriously about investing in air-conditioning units. We wonder if climate change will mean more hot summers to come. We want this hot weather to stop.

I know the unusually pleasant weather I experienced recently in Minnesota was just a fluke, and that hot, humid days and hordes of mosquitoes are still the norm there. But on one lovely afternoon there as I sat in the shade of the covered front porch of our farmhouse, I savored the complete pleasantness of that day.

Then I returned home to the Flathead — and it’s been miserable ever since. No amount of water seems to turn our lawn green, and between the lawn and garden, watering is a full-time job.

Even so, I’ll take the Flathead’s weather over Minnesota’s clime any day, hot or cold.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.