In One Kansas Town, Even Hotter Than Usual
HILL CITY, Kan. — This town on the parched plains, best known for its bountiful pheasant hunting and museum of oil history, recently earned a new, if unwelcome, distinction — the center of America’s summer inferno.
For five days last week, a brutal heat wave here crested at 115 degrees. Crops wilted. Streets emptied. Farmers fainted in the fields. Air-conditioners gave up. Children even temporarily abandoned the municipal swimming pool. Hill City was, for a spell, in the ranks of the hottest spots in the country.
“Hell, it’s the hottest place on earth,” Allen Trexler, an 81-year-old farmer who introduced himself as Old Man Trexler. He spoke while standing in the shade of a tree on Saturday morning, the temperature already sneaking toward 100.
Personally, I didn't know it had hit anywhere near 115 degrees anywhere in America, except, maybe in the deserts, let alone hit that in little ol' Kansas.
This is the scary part--81 year old farmer Allen Trexler is quoted: "There’s nothing to farm right now. Nothing will grow.”
That's bad for everyone--all of us.
Full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/us/kansas-town-stuggles-to-deal-with-115-degrees.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
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