Louisiana residents have a saying that “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity,” but this month proved to be an exception that the rule.This June was Baton Rouge’s third hottest June on record, according to Jay Grymes, WAFB Chief Meteorologist.”The only reason [the whole month was] the third hottest is because the first week of June was pretty tolerable,” Grymes said. “But if you look at the last three weeks of June, and particularly the last half of June … that’s the hottest second half of June dating back all the way to 1930 when we have records.”Grymes said one reason for the extreme heat is a lack of moisture in the ground from dry conditions. He said that results in little moisture being absorbed into the atmosphere.”The atmosphere is a little bit drier than normal, and because of that we see these daytime highs going up into the upper 90s,” Grymes said. “We’re not getting much in the way of cloud cover. And so the sun just bakes things even more. We’ve been flirting with this 100 degree mark now for almost two weeks.”Grymes said Wednesday’s high was 99 degrees. It marked the ninth straight day with a high of at least 98 degrees, tying the local record for any period.”It’s not a matter of just does it feel hot,” Grymes said. “It is hot. It’s record hot.”The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for Southeastern Louisiana for several days last week.Grymes said that advisory has been the only one so far this summer.”What the Weather Service looks at is not just what the daytime high is, but what the overnight lows are going to be, the idea being that if the lows stay elevated as well,” Grymes said. “What that means is that the cooldown that we expect during the evening or overnight is going to be even more delayed and more slow.”Manuel Fury, business senior, said this summer has felt hotter than normal for him.”It’s a lot hotter than it’s been the past couple of years,” he said. “It’s always been hot and humid, but it’s just been ridiculous lately.”Fury said he tries to stay out of the heat as much as he can and stay inside in air conditioning. He said he also drinks a couple bottles of water a day.”I just go outside to walk to classes, that’s it,” Fury said. “Everything else — inside.”Brittany St. Pierre, education junior, is from Louisiana but attended college in Florida the past two years before moving to Baton Rouge. She said the local summer heat isn’t that bad compared to Florida but has been more humid.”You can’t really breathe,” St. Pierre said. “You just drip full of wetness.”Erin Brewer, medical director for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals’ Office of Public Health, said younger people like college students can better handle extreme heat than older people for several reasons, including fewer chronic illnesses and better physical fitness.”We tend to be more used to getting exercise, so if we’re outside running around, doing whatever we’re doing, being active, we’re in better physical condition,” Brewer said. “The younger we are … the more able our body is to regulate our temperature.”Grymes said the long-range forecasts he’s seen so far for July predict standard temperature ranges for that month.But he said long-range forecasting in the summer months is “mainly guesswork.””What I can say is there’s nothing out there that’s telling us it’ll be unusually warm or unusually cool,” Grymes said.—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]