SIZZLING. SCORCHING. YOU'VE no doubt noticed that when the heat of the summer is a-blazing and you tell yourself—and anyone else who'll listen— "It's SO HOT out there. We MUST have set a new record!" only to hear your favorite weather person announce on that evening's news that while we may have been close, the history book for that day remained unchanged.

There are a couple of reasons why that happens. The first ends up sounding like a cop-out, but it's scientifically sound. The National Weather Service is the keeper of all official records in our country and they have offices in hundreds of cities around the country, including Las Vegas, where, out of necessity, only one location in those communities is the designated spot for collecting weather data. Here, as in many cities with NWS offices, that designated spot is at or near an airport (back in the day the Weather Service was heavily focused on providing storm info to our nation's pilots). So there's a chance that the temp where you were WAS a record, but it wasn't the OFFICIAL temp. The second reason may sound even flakier: the science of meteorology dictates that the measurement of heat and/or cold can only be the actual temperature of the air itself unaffected by sunlight or the lack thereof. This is called the ambient air temp and it's a fancy way of saying that the official temperature is taken in the shade. So when we're reporting the temp from McCarran International Airport there's every good chance that what you're walking around in is hotter than that by as much five degrees or more—especially if you're in direct sunlight. In other words: while we're telling you scientifically accurate information, it may not be a real reflection of what Las Vegans are experiencing as they go about their daily lives.

And now for something even more obscure: weather records that you may not stop to think about. Before you say, "Oh, boy—there's goes Nate again—off on some bizarre tangent…" and get ready to click on to something else, please stay tuned. What most folks think of as the record highs and lows for each day are officially known as Record High Maximums and Record Low Minimums. Simple enough, right? If that was all there was to it, we'd be done. But we're not, and if you're ready for some stuff that sounds contradictory and confusing (but really isn't) fasten the seat belt of your mind. Here we go: Just as there are record highs and lows for each day of the year, there are also records for the "coldest high temp" (officially: "RECORD LOW MAXIMUM") and the "warmest low temp" ("RECORD HIGH MINIMUM"). There are recent examples of both that might help you cope with this odd trip into trivial meteorological territory. Remember the day it rained just a week or three ago? Tuesday, March 21st, to be exact, when the morning rush hour was a slippery accident-clogged mess with the sun coming out only to be followed by more ugly clouds and a couple thunderstorms with brief hail and slushy snowflakes thrown in for good measure. The high temp that day was only 51, 20 degrees below normal and a new Record Low Max for the day. Going back to the end of February, the 28th saw a relatively warm morning low of 54. That was 10 degrees above normal and a new Record High Minimum. If, by some odd chance, you're still reading and would like to know more about all this, the local National Weather Service has it on their website, which you can click to right here: www.wrh.noaa.gov/vef/climate/index.php. Thanks for tuning in!