THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507160045
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE AND TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Hampton Roads joined the Great Bake of 1995 as the mercury soared to a record 101 degrees in Norfolk on Saturday and the heat index hit a sweltering 115.
Similar readings were posted throughout the mid-Atlantic region, including 100 in Richmond and 102 in Baltimore. And today is likely to be a carbon copy as a huge heat wave that has dominated the nation's heartland for a week slips slowly east.
Folks who bemoaned the hot weather outdoors had it easy, however, compared to Mark Watley and Jason Bishop. The two air-conditioning installers worked in incredible heat Saturday in an effort to keep someone else cool.
``It's hot!'' exclaimed Watley, as he took a break and swathed his face in ice-cold water. ``I'm praying for winter.'' The temperature in the attic where he and Bishop worked for nearly six hours approached 150 degrees.
They were installing a new central air-conditioning system in Joe and Kathy Rudnick's home in the Timberlake section of Virginia Beach. The couple have been without AC for three years, spending money instead on other repairs.
Now they're cool and grateful.
``I'm a boilerplate technician in the Navy, so I'm used to it,'' Joe Rudnick said of the heat. ``But my wife got tired of it.''
The family came to Hampton Roads from Michigan, where air conditioning wasn't needed, and had used ceiling fans to weather heat spells.
``At night time, it wasn't so bad,'' Kathy Rudnick said. ``But in the afternoon, it was pretty bad.''
Finally, this year, they made the decision to install air conditioning, and so the crew from Myers Mechanical Services in Chesapeake came to the rescue.
A sympathetic Rudnick supplied Watley and Bishop with cold water, ice and fans whenever they came down from the oven-like attic. But they kept having to climb back in.
They are busy at this time of year. Their company received more than 20 service calls on Saturday alone.
Why would someone want a job like that?
``The money,'' said Watley with a grin, adding that technicians make upwards of $45,000 annually.
For Bishop, there are other reasons. ``I have air conditioning, so I can understand how some people would feel if they didn't have it,'' he said. ``If I can help someone else, that makes my job better.''
While they worked to keep people cool, Don Simmons and his crew at the Atlantic Garden Center on Indian River Road in Virginia Beach were busy saving plants.
``It's very hard,'' Simmons said. ``We have to water most of the day to keep everything alive.''
While all gardeners fight summer's drying heat, the challenge is greater for nurseries because their plants often are in small pots and can dry out far faster than plants in the ground. And the smaller the plant, the more susceptible it is to heat stress.
``It's an ongoing battle,'' Simmons said. ``It's harder for us than a customer at home who has them in the ground.''
All day Saturday, his crews moved hoses and sprinklers around, bringing a cool flow of well water wherever it was needed.
``We have plants that we keep an eye on, our bellwethers,'' Simmons said. ``We'll move up and down the nursery checking those guys that are most likely to get into trouble.'' When one or two of those plants start showing signs of stress, it's time to water the lot.
But what about the workers who are doing the work?
``It's hard,'' Simmons said. ``We drink a lot of fluid. It can be dangerous in the heat.''
While they turned on the taps, most Virginians were cranking up air conditioners Saturday, creating record demand for electricity. But Virginia Power said needs were being met.
Saturday's high temperature in Norfolk came at 3:15 p.m. at Norfolk International Airport. The high of 101 broke a record of 98 for the date set just a year earlier.
At the time the mercury peaked, the relative humidity was at 42 percent. That made for a heat index reading - the measure of what it feels like because of heat and humidity combined - of about 114.
That was nothing compared to the weather in Quantico, where Marines who might have been in training at the base there probably felt like they had moved in with the devil.
At 4 p.m., the temperature there was 92, but the humidity was at a sopping 80 percent - making for a heat index reading of 124 degrees.
It wasn't feeling much cooler at a base closer to home. At the Norfolk Naval Air Station, the mercury hit 99 at 4 p.m. With humidity at 48 percent, it felt like it was 120.
And this might be only the beginning. With a huge dome of high pressure dominating much of the nation, each new day of hot weather builds on the previous one.
Meteorologists warn that if the pattern persists, there's only one place for the mercury to go: Up. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by VICKI CRONIS, Staff
Jason Bishop wipes his brow as his partner, Mark Watley, works on a
new air-conditioning unit.
Color photos
Mark Watley, who works for Myers Mechanical Services in Chesapeake,
tries to keep his cool while taking a break from the attic where he
and his partner were working. Their customers supplied the pair with
cold water, ice and fans during breaks, but, Watley said, ``I'm
praying for winter.''
KEYWORDS: HEAT WEATHER by CNB