Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 11, 1993                   TAG: 9309030356
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SIZZLIN'

It is hot.

So hot that the normally frigid air-conditioning seems to cool things down to a mere lukewarm - when it's working at all. The talk in this building is that it is out in the top-floor newsroom, a place of sometimes overheated passions anyway. We're staying away from there.

This is a time to take things slow, seek the shade and keep your cool.

And to think back to four months ago, when Southwest Virginia was buried under 2 to 3 feet of snow and buffeted by the winds of the Blizzard of '93. How many of us said then, ``We'll be wishing for some of this ice and cold next summer, when we're broiling in 90-degree heat''?

It's summer. We're broiling. And we're wishing.

That storm seemed like a terrible, life-threatening event then - well, actually it was terrible and life-threatening. But in the warm glow of memory, the very warm glow, it seems that it had a lot to recommend it.

At least that lousy weather had historical significance. It was the Storm of the Century, by some scientific reckoning. It swept in at the end of a mild winter, a dramatic show of the awesome powers of nature that crushed the early spring. Coping was an accomplishment, and we all stocked up on stories we'll be able to tell our grandchildren - over and over and over again.

This heat wave is just ... sweaty. Nothing dramatic. Nothing memorable. As uncomfortable as it is, we haven't broken any records. At least, not yet anyway. Thursday's high was 97 degrees. Big deal. It hit 101 the same date in 1977. Now that was a hot day ...

Not that we're pining for a similar scorcher. Heaven forbid.

This may not be the most challenging of times. When humanity's struggle against the elements is carried out under hazy, clear skies, there simply is not the same urgent drama to it as there is, say, to surviving a blizzard.

Don't let those blue skies fool you, though. There is sufficient difficulty and danger in a heat wave. It can, indeed, be life-threatening. The Medical College of Virginia advises that the second leading cause of death among athletes is too much exertion in too much heat.

So take it easy. Where you once took heed of warnings to rest often while shoveling snow, heed the warnings now to t ake things slow when you're outdoors. Drink plenty of liquids - and make them tall and icy. Don't fight with your spouse, and watch that the kids don't overdo in the sun. Make sure your pets have cool shade and plenty of drinking water. And don't lock them in closed cars.

Take advantage of the heat while you can. Go for a swim, slurp a snow cone and relax. It's too hot to mow the lawn, and you don't want to turn on the oven for any reason.

Enjoy.

Oh, and let us be the first to say, ``We'll be wishing for some of this heat and humidity next winter, when we're shoveling out from under the next big snowstorm.''