The hottest month ever shouted the headline on the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Aug. 1, 1980.
The more things change, I guess, the more they stay the same.
All through this long, brutally hot summer of 2011, we've heard about that fateful year of 1980. The year that saw 42 straight days of 100-plus degree weather, and 69 days overall -- two records that were threatened this summer, but now look like they will stand. (Our own 100-plus streak stalled at 40 in mid-August; as of Wednesday, we will have had 65 100-plus days overall, but a cold front is on the way this weekend.)
Having heard so much about that atrociously hot summer, and having (barely) endured this one, I got to wondering: In 1980, were North Texans just as obsessed with the weather as we seem to be this summer? And what was it like to live through that, long before the Internet and weather.com were around to keep us updated on climate change. I took to the Star-Telegram archives to investigate.
The local news: Turns out the local story of the summer was indeed the excruciating weather. July was the hottest month on record (a record that stood until July 2011). Aug. 14 was the 53rd day of 100-degree-plus temperatures, breaking the previous record of 52 set in 1954. The very next day, temperatures dropped to a relatively cool 97, but before the summer of 1980 was out, North Texas would record 16 more 100-degree-plus days.
The national news: Democrats were tussling over the presidential nomination, with incumbent President Jimmy Carter being challenged from within his own party. According to the Star-Telegram, Fort Worth congressman and then House Majority Leader Jim Wright warned that a protracted fight at the Democratic National Convention would be bad for the party. He was right. (Ah, to think back to the days when Fort Worth elected Democrats.) Elsewhere, three jets were hijacked to Havana in a single week, beginning Aug. 9; and 20-year-old Playboy playmate Dorothy Stratten was found dead Aug. 15, killed by her estranged husband Paul Snider, who later turned the gun on himself.
Sports: The Rangers were struggling in third place, below .500 and a full 17 games behind the Kansas City Royals -- and manager Pat Corrales was on the proverbial hot seat. On Aug. 10, team owner Eddie Chiles reportedly said Corrales would be back next season, but, alas, someone wasn't telling the truth there, since Corrales was replaced by Don Zimmer in the 1981 season.
Entertainment: Among the high-profile concerts you could have attended in the Metroplex in August 1980 were Queen at Reunion Arena (Aug. 9) and Fleetwood Mac, which pulled into town in support of its album Tusk on Aug. 16. (Some things don't change; Mac member Stevie Nicks played the Verizon Theatre on Aug. 12, 2011.) The list of movies playing in area theaters that summer included The Empire Strikes Back, Brubaker, Urban Cowboy and Caddyshack. (The drive-in offered The Shining, but warned "No Glass Containers" were allowed.) On the Star-Telegram's lifestyle page on Aug. 1, the main story, about Bruce Jenner, was headlined "Is America's hero human?" -- a question anyone who's seen a recent episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians is no doubt still asking.
You thought we had it bad: And as lousy as this summer's weather has been for Texas, at least we haven't had to also face down a massive hurricane. On Aug. 9, Hurricane Allen wreaked havoc along the Gulf Coast. A Star-Telegram story Aug. 10 put it plainly: "Hell, in the form of Hurricane Allen, officially arrived here at 5:33 p.m." Makes our own 60-plus days of bone dry conditions seem positively heavenly.
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