NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — You caught it, didn’t you? The big 20-year error? The one in last week’s June weather story? The one that completely ignored some of the area’s driest years? The early 1950s? Well, not completely; they were there at least in one paragraph.
You didn’t catch it? Join the club; neither did I. Let me explain. Just in case you overlooked it, I’m atthe head of the line of overlookers. When proofreading the page last week it just didn’t register. Here’s the way the story read: “During the years from 1938 through 1987 there were no 100 degree temperatures recorded during the entire month of June.” It should have read: “from1958, that’s 1958 through 1987.”
How about those three hot years, 1952, 1954, andespecially 1953, when June had 10 century-plus days.
Ironically, those were the only 100-plus days in June from 1938 through 1987. And they had been mentioned in the paragraph immediately preceding the goofed-up one last week.
How did it happen? I dunno. A typo? An oversight? An honest error? I think I’ll just blame it on the heat. After all we had just come through six century-hot days. Yep, that’s it, the heat.
Just for the record those 29 years, 1958-1987, were great June days and, with the exception of those forgotten years, the hottestJune temp was a “shivering” 98 degrees on June 24, 1971. And the century mark in 1988 was not matched again until June 30 of last year. Unfortunately, there were many drought years.
So here we are with a hot start of summer this year. Hopefully July will not be as bad as last year when 24 of the days in July equaled or topped the century mark, including the 114 degrees which equaled the highest temp recorded locally, on July 19, 1936.
I think I’ll just skip July and August this year, lean back in the recliner under an air conditioner, and ... and ...
Seriously, I hate it when a mistake like the one mentioned occurs. Sometimes it’s explainable, sometimes not. One thing for sure, it was not planned.
Hitting the right numbers has always been a challenge for me. Back in the almost horse and buggy days when I took typing, the number errors always brought my word-per-minute speed down to almost zero. It’s worse now and spell check is no help; it doesn’t correct number errors.
Maybe I just need to write everything in longhand. Then the numbers would have a better chance of being correct. But, what about the words? I won’t go into that.
I do hope that by the time you read this it will have rained, cooled off, and what’s left of pastures will begin to recover. If not, it could be the start of another long, hot, dry summer. And next winter ... let’s not go there.
Dodie Evans is editor emeritus of the Westside Eagle Observer. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
Opinion, Pages 6 on 07/11/2012