How hot is it? It’s so hot Vulcan feels overdressed.

The reason behind the heat is on the podcast — and below.

Dome of misery

As the Alabama summer cranks up to high over the next few days, you can blame the furnace blast on what they call a “heat dome” over much of the South, reports weather writer Leigh Morgan.

Whining won’t help much, but hydrating and avoiding too much strenuous outdoor activity during the hot part of the day can help you get through this.

Leigh compared the heat dome to putting a giant lid on a pot on your stove. The heat is trapped and builds up. See, we have a high pressure area over us with sinking air that keeps the heat near the surface.

That’s why Texas and Louisiana have seen triple digits, and now it’s our turn. So expect heat advisories, and as a bonus there’s already a Code Orange air-quality alert for Jefferson and Shelby counties today.

The heat dome is expected to be over us at least through Saturday, and by Monday we should be a more typical 90-ish in much of the state.

Heat can be a killer, so take care, check on your folks, and make sure you don’t leave any kids or pets in the car.

Deer disease

Chronic wasting disease was recently found in a deer in a Florida county that borders Alabama, reports The Lede’s Mike Bolton.

The significance of the find is that it reveals another geographical front in efforts to limit the disease in Alabama. CWD has been found in three deer in Lauderdale County in northwest Alabama, after it was evident that cases had been creeping our way through Mississippi and Tennessee.

Holmes County, Florida, touches the Alabama state line southwest of Dothan and shares a border with Geneva County. If you take Alabama 167 and Florida 79 to the beaches, then you drive through Bonifay. That’s Holmes County, where the CWD-positive deer was found as roadkill.

CWD is a neurological disease similar to mad-cow disease, except that it occurs in deer, elk and similar species. It causes deer to lose weight, salivate heavily, behave oddly and sometimes walk in circles. It’s always fatal to the deer.

Next hunting season, hunters in southwestern Alabama are being encouraged to drop off their deer heads at freezers the state will set up throughout the region. Also, hunters and non-hunters alike are encouraged to report deer roadkill and deer that are behaving oddly to the local Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries office.

No free parking?

There’s going to be an official Birmingham version of the Monopoly game, reports AL.com’s Greg Garrison.

Many alternative versions of Monopoly have been printed, and there are other community editions such as Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley, Palm Springs and Corpus Christi. While there are knock-offs out there, the one for Birmingham will be the first authorized community edition for an Alabama city.

The games replace the old familiar streets and spaces from the traditional Atlantic City version — remember Boardwalk and Reading Railroad and Marvin Gardens? — with local landmarks and businesses.

It’s expected to be out in March 2024, from Top Trumps USA and Hasbro.

So what places will be immortalized in the Birmingham edition? It’s not been decided yet. But if you land on Water Works you might owe more than you think.

Quoting

“President Biden said we’re not involved in that, which is probably the biggest lie you can tell. There’s no way we’re not involved in it to some degree with our CIA.” — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, on Tuesday’s Jeff Poor Show on Mobile’s FM Talk 106.5, over whether the U.S. was involved in a brief mercenary uprising in Russia.

By the numbers

42: That’s how many contestants will compete to become Miss Alabama this week at Samford University’s Wright Center in Birmingham. The winner will be crowned Saturday. See all 42 contestants here.

More Alabama news

Born on this date

1961: Former NBA guard Jeff Malone of Mobile.

On the calendar

July 17: That’s when an Alabama special legislative session will begin, as called by Gov. Kay Ivey, to redraw the state’s congressional-district map. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that having only one majority Black district out of seven likely violates the Voting Rights Act.

Podcast:

Newsletter: