A couple of summers ago Rose had some friends visiting, and we all went into town for the Midnight Sun Festival. It was a beautiful day, and it seemed like all of Fairbanks and a lot of tourists were out in the streets having a great time.

Rose and her friends stopped off at a booth to look over some crafts, and I kept slowly ambling along. In front of me were two teenage girls, about 13-14 years old, and one said to the other, “Dude, it’s so hot!”

Dude, it’s so hot!

That’s how I knew they were from Fairbanks. It was 73 degrees Fahrenheit, and I had to agree with her—for us, long acclimatized to cooler and cold weather, it was really hot. We’ve found this to be a very useful expression ever since then, and it is still at about 73 degrees in the spring and early summer that triggers the thought.