Can anyone please explain the meaning of the sentence?

暑中お見舞い申し上げます

I see it a lot, but I don't quite understand the context it's used in or its meaning. (I understand the words themselves, but I'd like to know what the expression is for. ^^; )

Help would be most welcome.

it's a standard meaningless greeting for midsummer "hello how are you this summer" letters - merely a formalism

Thanks!

So it can be pretty much used in any context, just as a gretting?
I wasn't sure if it had to be in a specific situation.

It's the standard summer greeting that I used to send out on greeting cards in Japan..

You know, Summer and New Years... 'Greetings to you, blah^2'.. followed by recent news you wanna pass on, etc etc. That's the context.

When the whim hits me now I just photoshop one of my pics with the text and e-bomb some of my Japanese friends.. it's a Showa thing.

The lit meaning is something like....

"Glad tidings to you during this warm summer."

but I always interpreted it as....

"Yo, how are you holding up in this sticky heat?"

Yeah, and folks use it as a greeting, but the first context I learned was for the greeting cards.

>>1
So,I expect you to send me "暑中見舞い”cards.

Oh,sorry. It's already too late to send them at this time of the year.
May be you can send me "残暑見舞い”cards. Due to global warming,it's still too hot for September in Japan.
I'm looking forward to them. bye bee.....

Thanks a lot everybody! Now I understand the meaning and how to use it! (^v^)b

By the way, I saw summer 暑中お見舞い申し上げます, autumn 残暑中お見舞い申し上げます and winter 寒中お見舞い申し上げます.... is there something for the spring residual cold?

Would 残寒中お見舞い申し上げます be appropriate or is there no such thing?

Thanks!!

You can use 余寒お見舞い申し上げます, though we rarely use it.