That made them welcome, even if it didn’t make them unusually cool. Both days it was 89 degrees, which of course is as close to 90 degrees as you can get without actually touching it.

But even to disdain a day in the 80s in July in the country would be a sign of meteorological ingratitude. July’s claims to thermal infamy don’t rest solely on its four days of 101 degrees and above.

As a precursor to this infamous period, July boasts nine other days with temperatures of 34 degrees or higher.

All of which is to say that some enthusiasm for Friday (and Thursday) is forgivable, even though temperatures were around 27 degrees Celsius every day.

Friday’s 89, like Thursday’s, was one degree below the District’s average daily high for this time of year. So both days could be considered generic summer days, and they seemed welcome as such.

Moreover, Friday was not without humidity, but it did not seem to be present in unbearable excess. The heat index, the perceived temperature, did not exceed the actual temperature.

Just as the actual temperature never reached 32 degrees, the hourly heat index also remained below 32 degrees.

It has been less than 30 days since the summer solstice, and the sun on Friday, July 19, was strong. At times, clouds, thick or thin, and often gray, shielded the city streets from the direct heat of the sun.

But sometimes the unbridled infrared energies of the sun in July would beam down on the district with full force.

It is a fact of life in summer that it can feel much warmer in the sun than the thermometer indicates (32 degrees Celsius).

This can make seeking shade seem like a form of summer survival. It happens almost thoughtlessly, out of respect for natural instinct.

But many streets had shade for much of the day, adding to the almost exhilarating sense of relative comfort provided by the high temperatures of just 27 degrees Celsius.

With a maximum temperature of 32 degrees Celsius, Friday and Thursday were the first two days in a row below 32 degrees Celsius this month since July 2 and 3, when it was 32 degrees Celsius on both days.

We can only vaguely remember those two days at the beginning of July in the fiery time that has passed since then.

That makes a day like Friday, even though the maximum temperature was only one degree below average, worthy of being immortalized in this month’s still-developing legend.