It's 100 today in Washington, D.C., with the heat index at a less-than-pleasant 110 degrees Fahrenheit. While Washington was admittedly built on a swamp and oppressive summers are nothing new, the overbearing heat around the U.S. and around the world is alarming.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced last month that "the average temperature for the continental United States from January through June 2006 was the warmest first half of any year since records began in 1895." (NOAA Press Release)

Just two weeks ago, I was fly-fishing with co-workers in Montana on the Little Blackfoot River. Not one week after I had waded through (and fallen into) those very waters, those co-workers lucky enough to still be in Montana forwarded me an article from The Missoulan. Apparently, for the first time ever, 220 miles of the Clark Fork and Little Blackfoot were closed to fishing due to the water being too hot. ("Heat halts fishing on Little Blackfoot, most of Clark Fork")

In California, 141 deaths have been caused by a recent heat wave, with temperatures soaring above 110 degrees Fahrenheit for many days at a time in Fresno, Sacramento and the Central Valley outside of Los Angeles. Record temperatures and high demand for electricity caused power outages for 100,000 people in New York City. London--a city known more for its fog and drizzle--is being seared in near 100 degree days, with the hottest temperature ever recorded in Britain in July peaking at 97.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Paris and Berlin are also matching record high temperatures.

How hot has it been where you live? Has your hunting and fishing suffered? Post a comment by clicking the link under this post.