You might want to clip this column out and save it on your fridge, because it could come in handy later.

That is, you might want to be reminded how to behave in hot weather. Of course, it might get a little dog-eared while you're waiting.

Now, don't me wrong. No one is dying of frostbite. But here's an interesting statistic: The daily temperature so far this month has not once exceeded the norm for July in Northwestern Connecticut - not once. Oh, we've had some days in the 80s, but none of those good old sizzlers where you drip with sweat just walking to the car.

The chances of that happening get less likely as we enter August.

"The hottest period is traditionally this week," the head of the Connecticut Weather Center, Bill Jacquemin, told me last Wednesday. "From here on, it gets gradually cooler, down to the third week in January, which is normally the coldest."

He hastened to add that doesn't mean the unusual cannot happen, just that the chances of the thermometer hitting the 90s decreases with each day that passes.

You might ask: What's he complaining about? Who wants to sweat? Look at all the electricity we're saving in air conditioning. Look at how green my lawn is.

Personally, I'm not complaining. I'm not a farmer, landscaper, pilot, lifeguard or park warden. As a backyard gardener, I can live with a late tomato, a stunted ear of corn or wilted arugula. But with all the rain, the pounding hail and the scarce sunshine, I really do feel for those who make their living from the land.

The hay crop has been in such peril that our farmers are like World War II pilots waiting for the fog to lift over the channel. The first sight of sun, and they run to their tractors, hoping to get at least a half-day of cutting in. But because the fields haven't had a chance to dry, they not only capture less grass but risk getting stuck in the mud.

Then there was that unusual spate of hailstorms, dropping incongruous balls of ice from a summer sky. Sam Averill, who has 2,000 apple trees at his pick-your-own farm in Washington, says he may have to buy apples from elsewhere this fall to supplement a crop badly damaged July 16. Tom March in Bethlehem lost 15 acres of corn from hail two weeks earlier.

Why is all this happening?

You could ask Al Gore, but meteorologist Jacquemin believes our current weather cycle is caused by an absence of solar activity that affects our weather-carrying jet stream. The notion that our weather cools down when sun spots disappear and warms up when they reappear over an 11-year cycle is gaining credence with many scientists, and is complicating the whole controversy over global warming.

"We're at the bottom of that cycle now," Jacquemin said. But we're getting off easy: During an extended period of no sunspot activity in the late 17th century, Europe got hit by what is now known as "The Little Ice Age," when crops failed to grow and thousands starved to death.

By the way, the Danbury-based weatherman says there's no such thing as a reliable "extended outlook." Weather patterns elude long-term predictions, from week to week, region to region, he said.

What heresy. How about those long-term forecasts in the Old Farmer's Almanac? Here's what the OFA said about the Northeast this season: "Summer will be cooler and drier than normal, despite hot weather in mid-to-late June and July." Hmmm.

Connecticut has never been known for extreme heat. The highest temperature ever recorded here was 106 degrees in Danbury in 1995. The humidity makes it feel worse, but you need desert dryness to make that mercury really pop.

Getting back to the original purpose here, let's just imagine that we'll get a heat wave before Labor Day. Here are some tips for coping with it:

Drink fluids even before you feel thirsty. Alcohol and sugared drinks hurt more than help, because they cause you to lose body fluids, and cold drinks can cause cramps.

Don't leave anyone, including Fido, in a parked car, even if the windows are open. Think solar oven.

Wear light, loose-fitting clothing.

If you haven't got air conditioning at home or don't want to turn it on, go to the public library or the mall.

Now don't lose this.