Roberta Wright went viral for a joke on social media that it is hot enough in Texas to bake break in a mailbox.
Roberta Wright/Facebook
mySA
By Katy Barber
Updated
A Texas woman has people from all over the world wondering whether a mailbox can double as an oven thanks to a joke posted to social media this week. The photos show a woman pulling an impeccably baked loaf of bread from a mailbox, akin to the classic "cook an egg on the sidewalk" and "bake cookies in a hot car" heat danger stories that have had a place in summer news for years.
The joke went viral the same week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that Earth experienced its hottest June on record and many parts of the country, including San Antonio, are under heat warnings and advisories as triple digit temperatures bear down.
Roberta Wright, a grandma and author from Houston, told ABC 13 the post has gone so viral that she has been contacted by people from all over the world asking if this was truly possible. She said she was inspired by Houston's humidity, which was ranked No. 5 in the U.S. last year, in addition to the heat.
"I bet it would be a nice surprise for your mail carrier," Wright joked with ABC 13. "My response is, only bake on Sunday. No mail delivery."
The photos were shared across multiple social media platforms with some chiming in that it's definitely possible, with others debating the science behind the possibility. In a post shared to Reddit's r/TheyDidTheMath, there was some debate on whether the mailbox's metal and brick construction could act like "an old school oven," while another user cites a study on the "maximum temperature of various materials exposed to sunlight including metal and brick."
She said the post was meant to be all in good fun and that she loved the idea of inspiring a story in people's minds when they saw the photos. She also said it was not possible.
"It's the storytelling of your imagination," Wright said. "Could it get hot enough? Could the yeast rise and everything like that?"
Wright is a retired educator and administrator, as well as a mom and grandma, who seeks to continue inspiring creativity, self-reliance, and problem-solving in children through her writing. She published her first book in February titled Out of This World Granny.
If you're determined to test the bounds of the sun and cooking, you may want to try to tackle sun tea instead.