DOG DAYS: Jim Piscitelli is a living, breathing testament to all
things Bradford. This comes in handy many times writing Round the
Square and, most recently, when we penned a column on the
temperature ever hitting the 100-degree mark during the dog days of
summer.

Jim, at the age of 97-plus, can never recall a time when the
mercury topped out at 100.

We had great hope that Jim may have had written historical
records to back up his memory – and he does have some volumes of
material – but there’s a slight problem.

Jim began keeping a weather log when he retired in 1972. That
being the case, we asked him to look up a period in 1986 when the
Weather Channel reported the mercury hit 98 degrees.

He dutifully did so but, alas, it was a period of time when he
was out of the country!

Here’s our dilemma. Although the Weather Channel, apparently
citing National Weather Service records, said the record high was
98 there are skeptics who point out that the temperature was
probably taken at the airport rather than “downtown Bradford.”

And we all know, it is 5-7 degrees colder at the hilltop airport
than in the Tuna Valley.

That being the case, it could well have been hotter than 100
degrees in 1986 in downtown Bradford.

Jim’s memory tells him no, but his written records are of no
help.

This dialogue has caused us to wonder about the records
themselves – what is “official” and what is “unofficial”?

A reader inquired yesterday about where temperatures might have
been taken before the airport was built. We wonder, too, if reports
other than National Weather Service are not considered
“official.”

The reason for our question is a report that the Weather
Channel’s record low for Bradford was supposedly in 1977 when the
mercury dipped to 36 below zero.

We know full well that that is wrong – at least according to
anecdotal reports, including one from Jim Piscitelli who vividly
remembers the winter of 1934. Others do, too.

We have written before about that brutal winter and recall the
supposedly “official” low was 42 below and in Smethport. There
seems no disputing that number, at least when talking to old
timers.

But, so, then, we must ask about the veracity of “official”
records. Something to ponder…