THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 28, 1995 TAG: 9507280429
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Sixteen days - and counting.
When the mercury hit 90 just before 11 a.m. Thursday at the National Weather Service office at Norfolk International Airport, the 15-year-old record for the region's longest heat wave fell. The only question now is, when will it end?
If the forecasters are right, temperatures show no sign of retreating below 90 for a full day until next week at the earliest.
And with high humidity also expected to continue, residents' patience will be sorely tested.
Since July 12, the mercury has hit at least 90 every day, once topping 101.
Previously, the record heat wave for the region had been 15 days, set first on Aug. 3-17, 1977, and matched July 29 to Aug. 12, 1980.
July is traditionally the hottest month in Hampton Roads, with an average temperature of 78.4 and an average daily high of 86.9. August is second at 77.7 and 85.7.
On Thursday, the high was 95 in Norfolk.
At 2 p.m., it was 93 at Norfolk International Airport, but with humidity at 60 percent, the heat index was 115.
At Norfolk Naval Air Station, the Naval Eastern Oceanography Center posted 95 degrees and a heat index of 116.
But the most uncomfortable place in the state probably was Quantico, where the Marine Base had a high of 90, humidity of 85 percent and a heat index of a whopping 122.
The Hampton Roads forecast is virtually unchanged today through Monday: partly sunny, hot and humid each day, with a chance of late-afternoon thunderstorms and a high in the low to mid-90s. by CNB