Here we are, 12 days into Summer 2026—at least if you subscribe to “meteorological summer,” which starts on June 1. The traditionalists will point out that summer doesn’t officially begin until 4:24 AM Eastern Time on Sunday, June 21, but Central Florida clearly did not get that memo. Outside, it already feels less like early June and more like late July wearing a fake mustache. As I write this, it’s 94°F (34°C) under mostly cloudy skies, with a “feels like” temperature of 102°F (38°C). I’ve had to step outside a few times today, and to borrow from Neil Simon’s Eugene Jerome in Biloxi Blues, “Man, it’s hot. It’s like Africa-hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot.”
My Weather app says a few thunderstorms may wander through the Orlando area in the next several hours. At the moment, southeast Orange County is thunderstorm-free, and the blobs on the radar are neither enormous nor especially close. But this is Florida in June, which means the atmosphere can go from “mostly cloudy” to “special effects department” with very little warning. Give heat and humidity enough room to mingle, and suddenly a tiny storm cell can bulk up into a sky-rattling boomer.
Ah, summer in Florida: part sauna, part weather experiment, part daily reminder that air-conditioning is one of civilization’s greatest achievements.
And since summer has arrived early—fashionably? aggressively?—I thought I’d mark the occasion with a seasonal soundtrack. Below is a selection of songs and musical compositions that capture the heat, the haze, the storms, the sunshine, and maybe even that first glorious blast of cool air when you open the front door and retreat back inside. Enjoy!
A Certain Point of View, Too 
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