Complain away. You’ve earned the right.
You just survived the hottest August on record and many of you have the sunburn marks to prove it.
With an unofficial average daily temperature of 76.8 degrees, Akron residents endured the hottest August since weather records were first kept in 1887.
The weather service is still working to check and double check all of its observations in Akron, said Meteorologist Karen Ouderman, but it looks pretty certain this is one record that was very likely broken.
The previous August scorcher was in 1947, when the average daily temperature was 76.2.
The hottest day last month in Akron was on Aug. 11 when the mercury hit 95 degrees.
In all, there were 10 days that were in the 90s — seven above the average of three 90-plus days.
Mike Scarpitti, of Kent, knows firsthand just how hot it has been.
Scarpitti drives a Dodge Durango with 315,000 miles on it and no working air conditioner to his job running an excavator for Akron-based R.B. Stout Landscaping.
“It’s been really hot,” he said.
Scarpitti said he and his fellow workers try to wear light clothes, drink lots and lots of water and think about just how cold the temperatures will be in the winter.
All this heat follows a record-breaking winter during which record-breaking high temperatures fell faster and more furious than snowflakes.
Climate folks say Akron’s temperatures aren’t unique, and record-breaking heat is being recorded across the globe.
Cleveland is flirting with a record August, too, and a 78-degree Lake Erie could mean a snowier late fall when, and if, cooler temperatures ever make their way across the lake from Canada.
While many parts of the East Coast are bracing for a stormy and rainy Labor Day weekend, Oudeman said, it will be sunny with temperatures starting with a high around 78 — that’s actually the average high for this time of year — and slowly creeping up around two degrees each day into the 80s.
“The holiday weekend is looking fantastic,” she said.
Craig Webb, whose car doesn’t have a working air conditioner either, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.