THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210322
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
The heat wave that stole spring and punished the region with record-setting temperatures Monday will force 39 schools in three districts to dismiss classes early today.
Some students in the Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk districts, where not all buildings are air-conditioned, will be sent home early rather than forced to sit in sweltering classrooms at the expense of sagging attention spans.
Public schools in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, and all air-conditioned schools in Norfolk and Portsmouth, will hold classes as usual today. The districts offered no word on when the lost time would be made up.
Monday's high temperature of 97 degrees broke a local record set in 1877, when the thermometer reached 96 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which is expecting temperatures today to remain at midsummer readings.
The mini-heat wave should end this evening when cooler air is expected to descend upon the region, bringing the possibility of rain in some areas, said Mike Rusnak, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
``Tuesday's record is 94 degrees, which also set a record in 1877, and that stands a chance of getting broken, too,'' Rusnak said. ``The forecast is for temperatures in the mid-90s. . . . We have a cold front approaching, which won't come until tomorrow night.
``We just have an unusual warm air mass over us,'' he said. ``But the warmest part of the heat wave is already moving out. The normals for this time of year are a high of 76 degrees and a low of 58.''
The suddenness of the heat took the region by surprise and forced many who work outside to pace themselves carefully or risk heat exhaustion. William Crawford, a 50-year-old masonry tender for Chesapeake Masonry, was one of them.
Crawford, who was helping rebuild fire-ravaged Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach, said it's all a matter taking the heat in stride.
``You deal with it as best you can,'' Crawford said. ``You drink plenty of water, but not too much, and you start to work early. We start at 6:30 or 7 a.m. and beat the heat.''
For the majority of Hampton Roads residents who work inside at white-collar jobs and return home expecting a cool night's sleep, the heat wave had air conditioners working overtime, creating an electrical demand that nearly matched capacity.
Virginia Power said the timing of the heat wave left it stretched thin.
Because it is spring and temperatures are normally much lower, the utility had two of its coal-fired generators at Mount Storm, W.Va., down for repairs. In addition, one of the two reactors at the Surry nuclear plant remained down for refueling.
``We expected demand to be 12,600 megawatts by 5 p.m. Monday and we expect to have 12,700 megawatts available to meet customer demand, creating a tight power supply situation,'' said Pat Gayle of Virginia Power.
``We don't anticipate any emergency measures right now,'' she added. ``But customers should be aware of the situation and should monitor it for developments.''
On Sunday evening, when a transformer failed in Virginia Beach, the utility began a series of rolling blackouts in portions of the city to compensate. That transformer is being repaired, Gayle said, and should be on line today. Even so, all customers returned to the power grid by 11:49 p.m. Sunday.
While events combined to stretch the power supply, they also, as it turned out, helped fire up Navy ingenuity.
Officials at Norfolk Naval Station helped ease the intense demand for power by disconnecting four ships from shore power and sending them to sea sooner than expected.
In addition, the Navy helped Virginia Power by having five other ships turn on their generators to bolster the power supply while at the same time running a series of rolling blackouts at the sprawling base.
Victor Stephenson, account manager with Virginia Power, called the base's efforts ``extraordinary.''
``They ran 12,000 megawatts on their own generators, and all totaled shaved 30,000 kilowatts from Virginia Power's demand from 6:45 a.m. to noon,'' Stephenson said.
``What the Navy has done for Virginia Power is something truly extraordinary,'' he said. ``No other customer had the ability to drop its demand on our customer load the way they did, or the willingness to help out.''
Between 10 p.m. Sunday and noon Monday, the Navy generated enough extra power that an additional 7,500 homes were spared possible blackouts, Stephenson said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
HUY NGUYEN photos/The Virginian-Pilot
The beach was the perfect place to spend a scorching day like
Monday. This group of friends from Virginia Beach, who came to the
Oceanfront with their fathers, took advantage of the ocean and added
cold drinks to double their pleasure.
Norfolk city employee Melvin Wyche spent Monday in the trenches -
working on a water line on Virginia Beach Boulevard near Military
Circle Shopping Center.
Graphics
THE PAST TWO WEEKS - A STEEP RISE
A NEW HIGH - FROM 1877
THE NEXT FEW DAYS
[For complete graphics, please see microfilm]
EARLY SCHOOL DISMISSALS
Because of the heat, the following Portsmouth public schools will
dismiss students early today:
11 a.m. - I.C. Norcom High
11:35 a.m. - Hunt-Mapp Middle
12:10 p.m. - Emily Spong, John Tyler, Highland Biltmore, Hodges
Manor, Mount Hermon, Olive Branch and Park View elementary schools
12:45 p.m. - Brighton, Churchland, Shea Terrace, Simonsdale,
West-haven, Douglass Park and Port Norfolk elementary schools.
In Norfolk, only these schools without air conditioning are
scheduled for early dismissal today:
11:25 a.m. - Granby High and Norview High schools.
12:05 p.m. - Blair, Lake Taylor, Northside middle schools
12:45 p.m. - Calcott, Crossroads and Sherwood Forest elementary
schools
Also closing early in Norfolk will be Madison Career Center, with
an 11:30 a.m. dismissal time.
All Suffolk public schools will close early today.
Some schools have air conditioning, some do not, and because of
transportation scheduling, the district has decided to close all
high and middle schools at 11:45 a.m. The elementary schools will be
dismissed at 1 p.m.
by CNB