A Certain Point of View, Too

The ‘Mean Season’ Just Keeps Getting Meaner

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by

Alex Diaz-Granados
in , , , , , ,

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Monday, August 17, 2026 – Orlando, Florida

Late summer is the season when the southern United States turns the heat up to its highest setting. It’s always been that way, and it’s no accident that August and September coincide with the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Except for a few memorable detours — nearly six years in Bogotá and ten months in New Hampshire — Florida has been home for my entire life. Heat, humidity, sudden downpours, crackling thunderstorms, and the occasional tropical cyclone are as much a part of the Sunshine State as palm trees, mosquitoes, tourists, strip malls, urban sprawl, and the inevitable “Florida Man” headlines that make the rest of the country shake its head.

I took this photo a decade ago during a trip to the Winn Dixie supermarket close to my former home in South Florida.

In short: it’s late summer, and it’s supposed to be hot. No surprises there.

The aftereffects of a particularly wicked thunderstorm. I took this photo sometime in the 2010s when Mom was still alive, and I was her primary caregiver in South Florida.

What is surprising — or at least troubling — is how much meaner the mean season has become over the past three decades. Climate change deniers can insist otherwise, but anyone who has lived here long enough can feel the shift. Since the late 1990s, daytime temperatures have crept upward, heat waves have grown longer and more frequent, and droughts linger in ways they didn’t used to. After a decade of living in different corners of Central Florida, I’ve seen the pattern repeat with uncomfortable consistency.

As I write this, the temperature outside is a stifling 95°F (35°C) under bright, punishing sunshine. With humidity running high — and without the mercy of a sea breeze like the folks on the coasts enjoy — it feels more like 103°F (39°C). That’s blistering, even by Florida standards, and we still haven’t reached the forecast high of 97°F (36°C).

I’ve stepped outside a couple of times today to grab the mail and take care of a few chores. Each time felt like being smothered under a stack of hot, wet blankets. The air clings to you, weighs you down, and makes even brief errands feel like endurance tests.

Neil Simon’s alter ego Eugene Jerome summed it up perfectly in Biloxi Blues: “Man, it’s hot. It’s like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot.”

Amen, Neil.

Comments

9 responses to “The ‘Mean Season’ Just Keeps Getting Meaner”

  1. 9siduri Avatar
    9siduri

    It’s hot here, too. But I’m glad we don’t have the weather the rest of the country does—floods in the Midwest and Hawaii. Make it any cooler? Nope.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Alex Diaz-Granados Avatar
      Alex Diaz-Granados

      Extreme weather isn’t a good thing for the planet’s inhabitants…..

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. thomasstigwikman Avatar
    thomasstigwikman

    I think I can notice the change here in Texas too. It is harder to notice, but this summer we’ve had 100+ degrees every day for at least one and a half month, except for one day when it was 99. Today was a106. However, it is much more noticeable in northern Sweden, essentially the arctic, where I am originally from. The temperatures may not be as warm but they are not normal. Reindeer get sick, there are wildfires where none was before, thawing permafrost, and snow seasons having been shortened by one month, even two months over the last thirty years. This is something everyone can notice. However, the real evidence come from the temperature records from NOAA, NASA, the world’s meteorologic organizations, etc., and the ever shrinking summer icesheets in the Arctic, Greenland as well as the Antarctic.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Alex Diaz-Granados Avatar
      Alex Diaz-Granados

      In Germany, too, it’s hotter than usual. It’s sad (and more than bit infuriating) that there are so many people who say, “Earth goes through these cycles of warming and chilling; there’s no connection between rising temperatures and human activity.” The fossil fuels industry may have realized that its propaganda campaign to deny global warming was a bad idea, but the damage is done, I fear.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. thomasstigwikman Avatar
        thomasstigwikman

        Yes, I really wish people would look up the facts. We have Google, after all. The notion that the current rapid warming is natural and not human-caused is nonsense that has been debunked thoroughly and conclusively. It is us!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Alex Diaz-Granados Avatar
        Alex Diaz-Granados

        Unfortunately, a combination of stubborn pride and the desire for profit comes into play with many people.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. thomasstigwikman Avatar
        thomasstigwikman

        Yes, you are so right.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Patti Aliventi Avatar
    Patti Aliventi

    New Hampshire has been pretty cool this summer. Not in the 90s much at all except around 4th of July. Of course, we’re headed to DIsney tomorrow so I will be dying then.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Alex Diaz-Granados Avatar
      Alex Diaz-Granados

      I think we only had a few hot days in Madison in the summer of ’24, as well as a few strong thunderstorms.

      Like

      Reply

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