I don’t like extreme heat but you get used to it. Sorta.

My son-in-law spent the last few summers in South Dakota. It can get hot there but the average temperature in June, July and August is about 85 degrees.

That is more than a shade cooler than Tulsa. Tulsa averages 88 degrees in June, 94 degrees in July and 93 in August. It drops back down to 85 degrees in September.

Florida is the hottest state while Hawaii comes in second. These are based on 12-month averages. Louisiana (67.2 degrees), Texas (65/9 degrees) and Georgia (64/3 degrees) round out the top five.

Oklahoma doesn’t even make the Top 10 but it sures feels like it this summer. Actually, Oklahoma is No. 11 with an average 12-month temperature at 60.4 degrees.

Alaska is the coldest state with a 28.1 average. Could that be right? What – does summer last for one week in Alaska? South Dakota is 45.8 degrees on average.

I have been to Florida during the summer and it is hot. Very hot. You need sunscreen all the time. And if you go to the beach, you really need sunscreen because the sunlight reflects upward from the sandy beaches.

I spent a week at a summer camp in Louisiana and it was hot. And it was very humid which makes the heat index soar.

We went to a family reunion in Texas one summer and I didn’t want to leave our air-conditioned hotel room. And it was dusty with not a lot of trees.

More than one of my friends have agonized in the humid summer heat in Houston.

My wife and I visited friends in Phoenix, Arizona, one summer. That was bad timing. My friend played in a summer softball league. The games didn’t start until sundown. I went to one game and the wind was blowing off the desert and it felt like a giant blow dryer was blowing in my face. I could not get enough water to drink in Phoenix.

I want to go to Hawaii and I don’t care how hot it will be.

Surprisingly, Denver gets high summer temperatures. But the Rocky Mountains stay cool and Denver temperatures fall at night during the summer. It’s very comfortable.

We have taken Caribbean cruises during the summertime of some Central American nations. When you get that close to the Equator, the sun is really, really intense. You need a large-brim hat, plenty of sunscreen and lots of bottled water.

Mali, in West Africa, is the hottest country in the world. It averages 83.89 degrees. Its neighbors, Bukina Faso and Senegal, are numbers 2 and 3 on the list of hot spots.

Death Valley, specifically at Furnace Creek Ranch, is probably the hottest place on Earth. Temperatures there reached 134 degrees on July 10, 1913. That’s a record that no one wants to break.

A couple of times, I have driven from Los Angeles to Las Vegas across the desert. That can be dangerously hot and damage your auto.

The second hottest temperature recorded was 131 degrees in Tunisia at a town called Kebil.

My oldest son spent nine months in the desert in Kuwait with the Oklahoma Army National Guard. They recorded a temperature of 129 degrees on July 21, 2016. He said it was so hot in the desert that they had to take all their plants inside during the day. All the water for the camp had to be trucked in and most physical training had to be indoors.

Heat can be dangerous. Already this summer, there are reports of a woman leaving her three-month-old infant alone in a car and he perished from the heat.

That has happened in the past in Tulsa.

The worst sunburn I ever got was on the Gulf of Mexico beach in Central Florida. I got blisters. I couldn’t tie my shoes and I had to sleep with two pillow propped under my knees to reduce swelling. I didn’t use sunscreen because it was partially cloudy. That’s a big mistake I won’t make again.

It usually starts to get hot in June in Tulsa and then really hot in July and August.

And it gets very dry. September starts to cool but we can still get some hot days in October but it is tolerable.

I like four distinct seasons. I would have a hard time in Florida or Hawaii because I would miss cold weather. Plus, I love fall and spring seasons. If I could live where I wanted to when I wanted to, I would live in the Colorado Rockies in the summer and Florida for most of the winter. But I would definitely live in Tulsa in the spring and fall.

But until my ship comes in, I will battle the heat in Tulsa this summer and look forward to football and cool temperatures in the fall.