It's not the heat, it's the humidity: we didn't challenge any all-time temps this summer

As miserable as we've been during this nearly two-week stretch of extreme heat and humidity, we don't have a leg to stand on when the old-timers start talking about the hottest days in their lifetime.

The fact is, the humidity has been the most brutal factor for our misery outdoors this round. We didn't even get to 100 degrees on the thermometer in western Kentucky yet this summer. So, Paducah's all time high has been unchallenged since it reached 108 on June 29, 2012; in fact, there were nine days out of ten over 100 in that stretch. It was also 108 once before on July 17, 1942.

Bragging rights for the entire Commonwealth belong to Greensburg, Kentucky, with an all time high of 114 set this same week (July 28) in 1930.

It's been even hotter in Illinois; 117 at East St. Louis in July of 1954. That very same day, Missouri notched 118 in Warsaw in 1954. (Oddly, Warsaw also is Missouri's all time cold spot at -40 in 1905.)

Indiana: 116 at Collegeville in 1936.

Tennessee: 113 in Perryville in 1930.

The hottest spot ever in America is pretty notorious: 134 degrees in Death Valley, California in 1913... which is currently recognized also as the hottest spot on Earth.



(AP file photo)