Little rainfall and high temperatures made the summer of 2011   breaking. Seward County experienced some extremely high temperatures that caused many people to choose to stay indoors rather than venture into the extreme heat.

“I was inside the whole summer,” sophomore Elizabeth Medina said. “I only went out when it was necessary for me to go out.”

Liberal was one of many towns in the Midwest that broke records. Liberal topped 110 degrees, breaking the record set in 1994 which was 108.

The recent heat wave was dangerous. People were warned to stay hydrated and keep in cool areas.

“I stayed cool by staying in my recliner by the air conditioner and eating lots of snow cones,”sophomore Jessica Winner said.

The heat wave started slowly with the month of May only having two days out of the month that either hit or surpassed 100 degrees.

The month of June started heating up with nine days that reached the 100 degrees or more mark.

July was the hottest month of the summer season. According to National Weather Service observer Brad Hinkle, there were 25 days in July in which the temperature exceeded or reached 100. The highest official temperature reached in July was 111 degrees, Hinkle reported.

“It felt like I was in Mexico during the summer instead of being in Liberal,” Medina said.

The heat would have been easy to cope with if the area would have received some rain to alleviate the dry spell.

The Liberal area has received a total of 7.21 inches of precipitation so far for the year.

“When it rained I felt so blessed, not only for myself, but for the rest of the area because we needed every drop of rain we got,” Medina said. “It was torture all summer long without any rain.” Due to the lack of precipitation Seward county had to cancel the display of fireworks for the 4th of July weekend.

The record high temperature that has still yet to be surpassed is 112 degrees that was reached in 1981.