I experienced many extremely hot days in California, but never kept the actual temperatures in mind. I recall a few times during a Santa Ana when it would be reported as 105 or 107, something in that range. I was in Death Valley a couple of times and of course that was extraordinary, but I don't know what it was on those days. It was nowhere near the extreme, though. Maybe 110 or a little over? Back in L.A., the Valley was always hotter than the Basin, and the running joke was that people in the Valley never turned their AC on till it reached 100.
In one of my early years in Danbury, Connecticut, there was a heat wave that took us into the low 100s. I remember coming out of the supermarket and suddenly saying to myself, "self, this is 100-degree heat". It was extraordinary because I actually recognized it -- it was like a Southwestern dry heat, not at all what you'd expect here. I don't think that's happened since the early 1990s. I should look that one up and see what it was all about.
I can document the coldest days. The year I lived in the Chicago burbs, the wind chill factor on Super Bowl Sunday was -45. It was actually kind of neat, feeling that for a minute between car and house. In this area we've reached wind chills of -10 and -20. I felt that but good one day in NYC playing auditions and walking two short blocks between studio and parking garage. That was worse than the -45 because none of us were dressed for it. In Chicago you're always dressed for the weather. (Seriously. They're very smart about that there. The weather changes on a dime, and so do the clothes.)
