It’s a hot one: How heat waves have trended over time
Since many of us are searching for this kind of information, I decided to take a trip down Ngrams lane to see how exactly we’ve talked about (er, I suppose “written about”) extreme summer weather over time. As a quick refresher, Ngrams was launched in 2009 by the Google Books team. The tool shows how books and other pieces of writing have used certain words or phrases over time, so you can see how popular (or unpopular) they’ve been throughout the years.
I started with the classic “heat wave,” which has steadily risen over time. I also tried “a hot one,” and given how that phrase could apply to so many different use cases (outdoor temperatures but also meals, items, etc.), it’s been relatively steady.