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Summer losing steam?

Another oppressive day, but heat evidently is ebbing.

Without so much as the hoisting of a heat advisory, today rather quietly has turned out be on the most-oppressive of the summer.

The official temperature at Philadelphia International Airport has reached 92, making this the 43rd day of the year with 90-plus temperatures. That's 10 short of the record.

What is more impressive than the temperature, however, is the dewpoint, which is a measure of the absolute water-vapor content of the air.

At last look, it was 73, which means basically that we're swimming in the stuff. The dewpoint has reached that level on only seven other afternoons in this sultry and seemingly endless summer.

But it looks to improve from here, and summer is showing signs of losing its steam.

This is the first 90-plus day since last Wednesday; yesterday the average temperature at Philadelphia International Airport was a full 2 degrees below normal, and after tomorrow no 90s through Monday.