During the last 10 days of this month, the folks in the media have been talking non-stop about an “epic” heat wave that would hit the Midwest and eastern parts of the United States.
There is only one problem with the media presentation, the current heat wave is not of epic proportions, that is, it is not extraordinary.
Forty-four years ago we had a truly “Epic” – and that’s with a capital E — heat wave under way. The year was 1980 and June started out bad and — with what was to be expected — July got worse.
We had two days in June where the temperature hit at least 100 degrees. In July we had 19 days with temperatures between 100 and 111. Six days in August hit 100 degrees or better. The high on July 1 was 110; on July 30, it was 111.
Not a single story I read in the past 10 days pointed to a temperature of 100 degrees in the Midwest.
1980 witnessed a savage impact on humans. Livestock were also hit hard, especially poultry. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 153 people in the City of St. Louis died from the heat in 1980. The National Weather Service did not give a precise number, but said that hundreds of people died from the extreme heat.
What I think is the most notable aspect of the human death toll is that many of the people in St. Louis died because they had their windows boarded up to protect themselves from the criminal element. The St. Louis courts for decades have been more interested in giving trial lawyers an advantage over civil defendants than protecting the public from criminal defendants. That’s a trend Democrats are pushing around the country.
This newspaper reported in July of 1980 that 10,000 turkeys died in Osage County in the first four days of the heat wave and another 15,000 in the next full week.
It wasn’t just 1980 that was terribly hot. In 1954 in St. Louis the temperature climbed to 115 degrees and a week-long heat wave claimed the lives of 104 people. I was 13 in 1954. I remember the heat. What I don’t remember is the 1930s. During that decade record after record was set for cold weather, hot weather, dry weather and wet weather. If there has ever been an “epic” weather event, it was the entire 1930s. But we don’t talk about that. The media, crazy left wingers in our universities, Democrats and Communists everywhere want to use a modest heat wave to convince us that we must shut down our oil wells and turn to electric cars. If this makes life a little inconvenient for middle-class Americans, so be it. If this makes inflation worse, so be it. That’s the cost of life as Joe Biden, the university folks, Democrats, Communists and elites all over the world want us to live in.
If you like inflation, vote for Joe Biden.
