I don’t love waking up at 6 a.m. to enjoy the cool 78° temps in California’s San Joaquin Valley. When I first moved to the Valley (Hanford) in the late 1970s, the locals were proud about being able to go out at midnight to enjoy their backyard.
“You can't do that in LA,” they said. “You’ll love it!”
Maybe. In LA, you often needed a sweater after 7 p.m., but we didn’t need refrigerated air in Altadena, and I could enjoy our backyard at 5 in the afternoon. That could explain why we didn’t go to the movies much when I was a kid.
My son, Alexander, was born in an air-conditioned hospital in Hanford, California, on July 3, 1981. The outside temperature was only 98°. It was only 100° when he and his mother came home from the hospital to our swamp-cooled home on Elm Street. The temperature stayed above 95° most of the month, hitting 100 or more thrice. The overnight temperatures always dropped into the 60s.
The hurricane-force winds of the swamp cooler blew moist and marginally cooler air around our tiny house. You had to keep one window open to let the air out. Our swamp cooler was just above our desk, blowing our bills and other paperwork around the house. The good ol’ days. But we survived 95°, which is a mere inconvenience if it’s dry heat.
The water was a bit chilly, but the beach was warm in Cayucus, CA. Morro Rock and Bay are in the background.
I have a photo of baby Alex with his hand over his eyes as if to say, “What did I do to deserve this?” Little did he know that even he was experiencing the good old days and the July heat would worsen over the next 40 years.
In July 2021, Alex’s 40th birthday, the temperatures topped 100° 28 times in Hanford, with a high temperature of 112° two days in a row, July 10 and 11.
Last year, 2023, the temperatures in Hanford hit 100° or more 26 times, topping out at 109° three times.
In 2024, The Fresno Bee reported that July was the hottest on record for Fresno. Oddly enough, Hanford recorded only its second-hottest July just 40 miles away with a mean average temperature of 87.6° and 26 days at 100° or warmer, with two records set at 113°. The hottest July for Hanford was recorded in 1931, with a mean average temperature of 87.8°, in case you’re wondering.
Neither Alex, me, nor his mother live in Hanford these days. Still, the July temperatures set the stage for birthday celebrations inside movie theaters, bowling alleys, waterparks, and spots along the central coast of California, such as Cayucos, Avila Beach, and Morro Bay. Oddly, Pismo rarely figured into our retreats. Too hot?
