You didn't dream it. Those past three sticky, miserable months were the Triangle's hottest on record.
The average temperature in June, July and August was 81.7 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. That beat the old record of 79.8, set in 2007.
Go on and wipe that brow, because there's more: We set or tied four daily record high temperatures during that time - and nine since May 1. We perspired through 67 days with highs of more than 90 degrees during the three summer months, also a record, and the heat continues in September, with the high hitting 91 Wednesday.
The temperatures come from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, where records have been kept since 1944.
So the numbers back up all of your dog-days whining. But why was it so hot?
"We were under high pressure a lot of the time," said Kathleen Carroll, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. "That tends to allow the temperatures to rise steadily day by day - without a cold-frontal passage or any kind of significant rainfall."
There were breaks here and there. At the end of July, it wasn't quite so hot: The high on the 30th was only 89 degrees. Factor in the humidity, though - it hit 93 percent at 1 a.m. - and it hardly mattered.
A hot seller
Though many of us spent the summer indoors, wrapped in blankets of conditioned air, enough ventured outside for Adrian Johnson to make an icy-sweet killing at the cash register.
How was business this summer?
"It was probably up 20 percent," said Johnson, owner of Pelican's SnoBalls on U.S. 401 in Garner. "For us, dry, hot days are great."
Some years, it rains. This year, Johnson said, "we had very little rain to mess with us."
On the road
But for all those who leveraged the heat toward business success, there were others who suffered through it. Among them were the crews at Blalock Paving in Raleigh.
Asphalt at work sites hovers around 250 degrees, co-owner Lee Blalock said. On July 7, the Fahrenheit temperature rose to 102.
Then again, "at 100 or 101, it really doesn't matter," Blalock said. "It's just hot."
And although triple digits become less and less likely each day, autumn is not imminent. Weather service meteorologists are forecasting higher-than-normal temperatures for the rest of the month.
