not balmy

After church on Wednesday night, Laurel and I were sitting in the car, and before I started it and its air conditioner, I commented on the extreme heat of the evening. "It is balmy!" I said with confidence. Laurel protested, saying "I think you mean muggy." This prompted a discussion as to the meaning of the word balmy. From time to time, we have this kind of discussion. Most of the time, my definition is correct. But when we looked up the word balmy, we discovered that it meant pleasantly warm. This most certainly does not describe the condition of the weather this week. Upon further reflection, muggy was not the right word either. Instead, let us describe the weather as rather like a blast-furnace.