The torrid sun. It gets us so hot. (Photo by Samer Farha)
“NWS has issued an Excessive Heat Watch, effective from Saturday afternoon through Saturday evening. Although tomorrow will once again be very hot, with highs near 100, Saturday is expected to be torrid.”—AlertDC email, July 5, 2012
When the District’s AlertDC emergency messaging system sent this warning out last night, the advisory about this weekend’s impending triple-digit temperatures was met with mockery and ridicule. Really, torrid? As in something sultry and lascivious? Is that the kind of forecast the National Weather Service hands out these days? Well, OK. We came prepared to party.
Seriously, though. While a curious word choice not usually associated with weather predictions, “torrid” is a perfectly acceptable term to describe tomorrow’s forecasted weather, which is predicted to feature a high temperature of 104 degrees and heat index that could spike to 110. In fact, the sexy definition of “torrid” is the second entry for the word in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The first is strictly meteorological:
1. a : parched with heat especially of the sun : hot (torrid sands)
b : giving off intense heat : scorching
But it’s the second entry under “torrid” to which people’s minds jumped after reading the AlertDC email. “Ardent, passionate,” as in a torrid love affair is far more common than torrid weather.
To wit, here are some things that are described as torrid far more often than the weather:
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- The affair between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles
- The Nationals’ first three months of the 2012 season
So, just how hot will it be in D.C. this weekend? As hot as a bondage-filled erotic fantasy, or the intrigue at Windsor Castle or the pace of the Washington Nationals. Take your pick. It’s all torrid.
