THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407080604
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Even folks who profess to hate winter had kind thoughts for the chilly season Thursday.
``A snow storm would be nice about now,'' Carole Hunter, 19, said as she waited for a bus on Hampton Boulevard near Old Dominion University. Normally, she said, she loves summer. But with the temperature at about 97, the heat index at 116 and the forecast calling for more of the same today, her affection was waning.
``I'm just standing here and I'm feeling miserable,'' Hunter said. ``Those poor people who actually have to work in this. . . . How do they do it?''
Not easily.
``It's like being inside an oven,'' Hugh Coots, 30, said as he and a co-worker spread primer paint on a house in Norfolk at Bedford Avenue and Monroe Place, just off Hampton Boulevard near the Lafayette River.
``It's frustrating,'' said his co-worker, Heath Leacy, 26. ``You can't concentrate on what you're doing because you're thinking about being hot.'' He wiped his brow on his soaked shirt.
``It's a bite when the sweat drips in your eyes. It burns,'' Leacy said. Still, ``You just have to try and block it out . . . and hope you don't pass out.''
The pair, working for Coastal Painting Co., relied heavily on frequent trips to an industrial-size, insulated barrel filled with ice water. ``You don't want to be drinking a lot of sodas . . . just water,'' Coots said.
On 21st Street, Rob Fortson, 21, was just as uncomfortable as Coots and Leacy.
``I keep my hat on and try to keep the hair out of my eyes,'' Fortson said as he stood atop a ladder scrubbing year's worth of accumulated dirt off a store front. ``Water will drip down my arm and that feels good, but that's about it.''
The heat turned one woman into a self-confessed criminal.
``I've stolen a shopping cart,'' said Cecile Rodriguez, 23, as she rolled along Colonial Avenue from a supermarket. ``Lock me up. At least the jail will have air conditioning . . . won't it?''
Normally, Rodriguez said, she carries her groceries home. It's only a short walk. ``But when I came out of the store, it just hit me. It was just so hot,'' she said. ``It's like having your face right at the door when you open a hot oven.''
She decided to wheel the groceries home and walk the cart back afterward. Despite the oppressive heat, area hospitals reported few heat exhaustion cases, although some people complained of bad sunburns. On the Eastern Shore, officials at Northampton-Accomack Memorial Hospital said no one had been admitted for heat-related problems by 1 p.m. Thursday.
Ed Tankard, who works at Tankard Nurseries outside Exmore, said the heat didn't keep him or his family from pulling weeds all morning.
``It's one of those days you wish there were a few more clouds in the sky,'' Tankard said. Every tiny cloud that passed over the sun was a relief.
Although it felt as hot on Thursday as it did on Wednesday, the day was actually a bit cooler. The high temperature was 95 at the National Weather Service office at Norfolk International Airport; 97 at the Naval Eastern Oceanography Center at the Norfolk Naval Air Station. On Wednesday, the high readings were 98 and 100, respectively. MEMO: Staff writer Karen Jolly Davis contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
IAN MARTIN/Staff
Shane Gilliland, 14, of Jackson, Ohio, frolics in the water to cool
off while on vacation in Ocean View in Norfolk. The mercury reached
95 degrees at Norfolk International Airport.
by CNB