Here is how to navigate it, survive it, and actually enjoy it. While meteorologists define summer as June 1 through August 31 (the three hottest months of the year), the season has three distinct psychological phases.
The U.S. summer months—June, July, and August—are a season of extremes. From the swampy humidity of the Gulf Coast to the dry lightning of the Sierra Nevada, summer is the country’s most chaotic, nostalgic, and demanding season.
Ask ten different Americans what summer means to them, and you’ll get ten different answers. For a farmer in Iowa, it is the anxious wait for the corn to tassel. For a teacher in Ohio, it is the glorious silence of an empty school hallway. For a tourist in Arizona, it is the moment they realize 110°F actually feels like a hair dryer pointed at your face.
Summer is a feeling, not a forecast. So check the UV index, hydrate aggressively, and go find some shade.
