Facing a new wrinkle in the struggle to stay cool

It was 93 degrees outside and what felt like 1,000 degrees inside my car, but I’d tucked an ice pack inside my bra, one of my tricks for dealing with the Arizona heat.

I’ve picked up others over the years: popsicles for breakfast, grocery shopping after dark, and a cold drink clenched between my knees in the car, elbows up and the AC vents pointed at my armpits.

My family moved here when I was 14, and while you really don’t ever get used to the triple-digit heat, even after 42 summers, you do eventually figure out how to live with it.

It’s why I’m so cool.

But this summer, there’s something new to deal with: masks. The fabric traps heat on your face, and it can be stifling. So I’ve taken to keeping a few masks in a plastic bag in the freezer. (It’s refreshing, for a few minutes anyway.)

I carry a spare mask in my purse, so if the one I’m wearing gets damp from breathing or sweating, I swap it out. (Damp masks aren’t just uncomfortable. They can be less effective at filtering respiratory particles.)

Plus, I’ve got this battery-powered fan I wear around my neck.

That brings us to the Amazingly Magnificent Guess-the-First-110-Degree-Day contest. Here’s how you enter:

You get three guesses apiece for the date, hour and minute the temperature first hits 110 degrees this year on the official National Weather Service thermometer at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The prize is a $50 gift card to a local business. You pick.

Email your guesses to karina.bland@arizonarepublic.com. Be sure to write “First 110 day” in the subject line. (That’s how I sort them, and you don’t want to get overlooked.) Include your name and phone number. The deadline is 6 p.m. April 30.

Win this contest, and you’ll be even cooler, masked or not.