Ole Boudreaux, a long-suffering New Orleans Saints football fan, found himself exiled to Hades. He sat in the waiting room before the devil walked in and said, “I am going to make this as uncomfortable for you as possible.”

The devil then jacked up the thermostat. He looked at ole Boudreaux, who was just dancing the day away. The devil asks, “Not too hot is it?”

Boudreaux smiled and said, “Man, I’m from south Lous-ana, this is like June to me.”

The devil goes back and really cranks up the heat. Boudreaux is just-a-dancin’ away. Devil looked puzzled and asked again about the heat. Boudreaux again said, “Man, I’m from south Lous-ana, this is like a July afternoon to me. I love it.”

In South Lous-ana, as in Mississippi, hot summer days are nothing new. It’s the third constant in life — death, taxes and oppressive summer heat.

It sure has felt hotter this June, though. At the time of this writing, we are on our sixth day of flirting with 100-degree actual temperatures. Only a tenth of an inch of rain has fallen since June 1.

Being the consummate weather-guesser, it appears the culprit is a high-pressure system that has stalled for weeks directly over us. The rain that normally would head this way is being deflected north and east, keeping us hot and the north cold and soggy.

Is it really more miserable than past years? Absolutely.

Using a high of at least 94 degrees as a base temperature and only considering the month of June, the numbers prove what we all think. We have had 12 straight days well over 94, including three straight 99-degree days and no rain. The forecast for the end of the month is equally as spicy.

Thirteen days in 2007 eclipsed 94 and 1.39 inches of rain fell in June. The next lowest rain total came in 2005 when 1.76 inches fell. Only one June day between 1999 and 2004 eclipsed 94 degrees, according to the site.

Suspicions are correct, this June has been spicier than normal. Even Boudreaux would be right at home and that would raise the devil’s ire even more. Instead of melting Boudreaux, the devil decided to freeze him out. Snow, wind and ice followed, yet Boudreaux was just-a-dancin’’ the day away. The devil, now truly perplexed, asked, “I can’t make it hot enough for you here in hell, and now it’’s freezing and you are still partying, what gives?”

Boudreaux answered, “Man, this is beautiful. The Saints just won the Super Bowl.”

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Sean P. Murphy is Web editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be contacted at smurphy@vicksburgpost.com.