Every August when classes start back up, the cries of poor Northerners complaining about the summer heat resound across campus — only to be met with the snarky replies of locals, saying, “Welcome to Mississippi. Get used to it.”
As a Middle Tennessean, I had dealt with my own fair share of heat and humidity prior to landing in Oxford. Naturally, I took the same attitude that battling the warm weather is simply a part of Southern living one must master over a long enough period spent here.
Recently, however, it has been different. The high temperatures the region has seen this summer have been unprecedented, and it is no help that extreme humidity has hit the South much more intensely than in previous years. Growing up in this weather has not made it more manageable for me.
With this week’s heat index climbing to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, we are far past simply “getting used to” these temperatures. Let’s stop pretending you have to be from New York to complain about the weather here; there is nothing wrong with admitting it is hot and uncomfortable outside.
Senior accountancy major Jack Mathis is from Houston. Still, he is surprised by how hot it can get in Oxford.
“I didn’t think, coming from Houston, that the heat would be just as bad here, but it somehow is. I’m also on the club baseball team, so practicing in that heat has been taxing on everyone out here,” Mathis said.
As he begins his fourth year at Ole Miss, Mathis believes this year’s weather has been unlike any other.
“It has felt way hotter this year as opposed to any of my prior years in Oxford, and much more humid, too,” said Mathis.
Hailey Semple, a freshman political science major from Buffalo, N.Y., came to Oxford from a colder state.
“I’m definitely not used to this (heat) at all. It hit me so hard,” Semple said. “Usually, it was like 40 or 50 degrees walking around my campus in high school, so coming down here was a crazy adjustment.”
Though the weather here may be drastically different from what Semple is used to in New York, she pointed out that even her friends from warmer states are struggling to stay cool in Mississippi’s sweltering summer.
“My roommate is from Florida, and she still says the heat is crazy for her, too. I really think a lot of people, even if they are from (Mississippi) or from the South, are (having a hard time) adjusting to it … because it is just so hot every single day,” Semple said.
It is important for every student to know, regardless of what temperatures they are used to from back home, there is no competition for who can face the high temperatures with the least complaints and no trophy for the toughest hoodie-wearer in August.
Everyone at the University of Mississippi has sweat dripping down their backs while walking to class, and none of us are strangers to the gratifying feeling of air conditioning.
Do not let your self-confidence lead you to think you can beat the heat without taking proper precautions. Otherwise, you may end up in the emergency room for heat exhaustion (like I was two weeks ago). Stay in the shade when possible, wear lightweight clothing and, most importantly, drink plenty of water!
MacKenzie McDaries is a junior sociology and Arabic major from Murfreesboro, Tenn.
