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Summertime in D.C.—that glorious season when temperature and air moisture conspire to bring our sweatiest selves to the fore.
While you can escape the sticky heat itself by finding a nearby spray park or iced coffee, it’s much more difficult to avoid the small talk that comes along with heat waves, namely everyone talking about the weather.
Sometimes talking about the heat is important. After all, the government provides heat alerts because elevated temperatures bring health risks and can lead to infrastructure challenges. But let’s not kid ourselves: most of the time people are just complaining that they live in a swamp.
Considering that temperatures this weekend could surpass 100 degrees, and new analysis shows that hot and humid days will become more frequent in the decades to come, you could be stuck in a Groundhog’s Day of conversation about how hot it is.
We’ve decided to step in where Mother Nature won’t and provide you this handy guide to talking about something other than the weather.

Rachel Kurzius