Haze, Humidity and History: 102 Degrees

The normal high for Aug. 8 is 88 degrees. The previous record of 101 was set in 1930, during the hottest 30-day period in Washington history. Temperatures hit the century mark 10 times in 21 days.

The 1930 heat wave was the cause of what The Washington Post called "unusual happenings":

· A woman living in an apartment on 10th Street NW shot and killed her husband when he refused to give her money for food. She blamed the heat. The morning she pulled the trigger, the temperature in the couple's apartment reached 110 degrees, she told police.

· Chickens that had been entered in an egg-laying contest at the University of Maryland Experiment Station were listless. Yields were disappointing.

· A 16-year-old Virginia hunter collapsed after being overcome by heat and shot himself in the head with a .22-caliber rifle. The bullet knocked him out but inflicted only a scalp wound, The Post reported.

Thirteen-year-old Betty Allen Conner of 5535 30th Pl. NW had her own take on the oppressive heat of August. In her poem, "Heat," published by The Post on Aug. 3, 1930, she wrote:

"We call out, we ask:

'Give us a winter day,

A frozen, icy day.'

But the sun,

The mighty, golden, burning sun,

Only laughs,

And, dizzy with its power,

Overwhelms the city and man."

It will be a "very hot, humid day" again today, said John Feerick, a National Weather Service meteorologist. But relief from the "mighty, golden, burning sun" could be on the way. Thunderstorms may move into the area tonight, and Feerick is predicting a Saturday high of 87 degrees with less humidity.

Staff writers Lena H. Sun, Hamil R. Harris, Amy Orndorff and Christy Goodman contributed to this report.