It's not the heat, it is the humidity

We left dinner last night about 7PM and our car's thermometer registered 108 degrees F! And we were in the shade.

Once we left the parking lot, the temperatures cooled to 104.

My wife and I have a game we play as we drive home. We try to guess what the temperature might be at the "farmhouse". Topographically, we are located in a small creek valley and it is fairly wooded (except for our neighbors to the west that clear cut their backyard). It is typically 4 degrees cooler at our house compared to downtown Westfield.

I've written about urban heat islands and everything we noticed yesterday points to this. Urban temperatures (and other built up environments) are warmer.

I'm going to plant some more trees!