Interesting.
I sure do remember the drought of the late 80s. It was more than one year though. More like 4 years long if I remember. This one is not as bad as that one was. I was living in eastern nebraska then and in ‘88 and ‘89 we were having daily highs of 102-108 degrees for 2 weeks or more straight in july. I was young enough then that I thought it felt good. It seemed invigorating, like a shot of adrenaline. It sure doesn’t have that effect on me now. All it does to me now is slow me down and make me drag the next day like a hangover.
I remember the weekends at mid afternoon the world was deserted back then in july/august during the drought. People did not leave their houses. Traffic lights failed due to the heat. Anyone remember those days? When the traffic lights would malfunction if it got too hot outside? How about the cars in parking lots would have their horns go on by themselves if the interior of the car got too hot?
Anyway, I was driving an old car that would overheat if it got above 70 degrees outside. I had to keep the drive short, not stop, and run the heater on full blast to help cool the engine. So here I am going 25mph through town running all the red lights and stop signs and just trying to make it to my destination before the radiator starts boiling over. It’s 105 or so degrees outside and about 120-130 inside my car due to the heater being on. There were no other cars on the streets because of the heat. Half the the traffic lights didn’t work anyway. I carried 6 one gallon milk jugs in the car full of water for when the radiator boiled over.
Ahhh, those were the days!
Well you took matters into your own hands and succeeded.
Today if their car overheats they probably call FEMA and wait for a check.