Reflections – Some like it hot? They must have heatstroke

Perhaps we all should walk around in bubble wrap because there are all sorts of threats out there — political extremists, doddering codgers overpopulating Washington, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza spilling over into broader conflicts, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, terrorists, hackers, scammers, porch pirates, drug addiction and the weather.

Indeed, the latter may be the scariest of all.

Mother Nature at times is hardly as sweet as Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma.

Whoever said that global warming is a myth is a fool. Just step outside.

This summer has been a sizzler across the country. Daily temperatures spike as if on steroids. I walked down the driveway to our mailbox the other afternoon and my sneakers were swimming in puddles of my perspiration. In areas like Berks County where humidity abounds, it’s definitely weather you can wear.

So much for summer fashion. You sweat through everything you wear when you’re outside. And when you step into an overamped air conditioning environment, your soaked clothes morph into an ice pack.

Mother Nature delights in tormenting us with super soakers, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, high winds, extreme tides and storm surges that toss everything onto the shoals of destruction. Just look at the horrific and barbaric havoc that repeatedly decimates many parts of the country.

Just a hunch, but I suspect there will be plenty more extreme weather events in their wake that will make mincemeat out of people’s serenity and property.

God, even Vincent Price and Alfred Hitchcock never concocted such a horror show of devastation.

This habitual weather monster makes us all sitting ducks quacking about the weather and wondering why we still drive gasoline-powered cars and operate gasoline-powered lawn mowers.

And just wait for the hurricane season to really kick it. Weather forecasters sound like prophets of doom as they warn of an armada of hurricanes. An increase in the sea surface temperature riding in tandem with increased atmospheric water translates into stronger hurricanes.

Man the lifeboats and don’t forget your lifejackets.

Global warming has a finger in all this. In fact, you’d have to be dumber than a single-celled organism to think otherwise.

Henceforth, I imagine everybody in the same time zone as a large body of water will be stocking up on flashlight batteries, generators, toilet paper, rosary beads and gallons of Jack Daniels.

About 71 percent of Earth’s surface is water-covered and Mother Nature seems hell-bent for leather in swelling that percentage like a blowfish.

Perhaps the featured Halloween costume this year should be dressing up like a scuba diver.

Mike Zielinski, a resident of Berks County, is a columnist, novelist, playwright and screenwriter.

Source: Berkshire mont