How hot was it on the afternoon of Aug. 1? The answer is relative. Tuesday's temperatures topped at 95 degrees Fahrenheit, one digit shy of the record. That's hot enough for anyone. But here at Chronicle Online we wanted to get a real sense of the atmospheric conditions around campus. So our intrepid reporter left the safety and comfort of his air-conditioned office armed with but a camera and a hot-foot. Here are some items of note from various microclimates across campus:

Outside Riley Robb laboratories, David Orr pointed a digital thermometer gun at the pavement: The temperature registered 136.7 degrees at roughly 1:45 p.m.

Orr, a Cornell extension associate and senior engineer in the local roads program, then pointed the gun against the brick wall outside his office: 122 degrees. On the aluminum flashing beside the air conditioner that cooled his office: a mere 110 degrees.

"That's why that thing isn't working so well," he said, pointing to the air conditioner. "It was 20 degrees cooler in the office this morning."

Orr was helpful in our research. He unbolted a wall-mounted aneroid barometer-hygrometer-thermometer display in the lab and placed it outside his office, adding another dimension to the findings: The air above the pavement registered about 106 degrees; humidity at 76 percent.

Over in the horticulture greenhouses on Tower Road near the College of Veterinary Medicine, Mike Burgess, a horticulture lab coordinator, was watering plants -- not a bad summer job. And it was surprisingly cool inside the hothouse -- a comfy 82 degrees compared with 90-plus degree outside -- the indoor heat was mitigated by large fans and moisture-laden cooling pads.

But pity the moth orchids in Greenhouse 13, where the temperature hovered around 114 degrees. No fans in there. The orchids provide material for experiments in classes, said Kim Goodwin, Tower Road greenhouse supervisor, who was not surprised by the temperature in Greenhouse 13 so much as by any person foolish enough to go in there and record it. Goodwin generously provided a mercury thermometer to the inquiring photographer -- and that turned out to be a dandy prop for doing a weather story.

Indeed, outside the Cornell Dairy Bar, it was 88 degrees in the shade. At a table Brooke LaFlamme and Raviram Kristipati, graduate students in microbiology and genetics, were enjoying dishes of ice cream -- chocolate and "coconut spring thaw," respectively. They were the only customers willing to brave the heat. Inside the Dairy Bar it was packed, as it had been for most of the day, according to supervisor Charlene West.

Other points of interest: The special collections vault in the Kroch Library held at its steady state of 68 degrees and 45 percent humidity, making it one of the coolest places to work on campus in more ways than one.

It was 90 in the shade under an oak in the backyard at A.D. White House; nearly 100 degrees on the Willard Straight Hall terrace. In the Cascadilla Creek gorge, the temperature dipped to a very livable 78 degrees; and a petunia bed in the shade on College Avenue yielded a modest temperature of about 86 degrees at 3 p.m.

Despite the high temperatures, a forgiving zephyr took the edge off for pedestrians crisscrossing campus, although anyone passing one of the many construction sites had to sympathize with workers toiling in the oppressive weather. Our hats are off, especially, to those laboring on rooftops.

They didn't get a break from the swelter Wednesday. The official high for the day was 93 degrees -- one degree shy of the record -- with a heat index of 103 degrees, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center.