Summer in a Fort Wayne house

Fort Wayne summers are short on heat and long on damp: July's normal high is 84°F, and the muggiest hours reach dew points in the 70s.

A row of colorful older houses with porches along a street in the Williams-Woodland Park Historic District — PLATE 1Williams-Woodland Park, Fort Wayne. The city's normals show 849 cooling degree days a year against 5,968 heating degree days.

The NOAA hourly normals put the average July dew point at about 63°F, with the top tenth of hours near 74°F. These four essays deal with that damp air, and with the ducts and house types that decide how well a Fort Wayne home handles it.

JuneDamp basements and sticky rooms in JuneEPA's line for indoor humidity is below 60 percent; a $10 to $50 meter checks it.
JulyWhen the AC cannot keep up in JulyJuly's normal high is 84.1°F, yet the record here is 106°F, from June 2012.
AugustDucts in basements and attics in AugustENERGY STAR: about 20 to 30 percent of duct air is lost to leaks.
AugustRanch houses and new builds around Fort WayneFort Wayne's median home dates from 1972. New or old, look in the attic first.