Heat’s on but not a
hot record
By RAY WYCHE
July went out in a blaze of scorching temperatures—and there’s more to come—but the average high temperature for the month was surpassed by that in July of 2004 and 2005.
Wednesday’s temperatures hovered around 98 degrees at several locations in the county, with a 102-degree reading being recorded at the Nature Conservancy in Brunswick County.
Medical people are urging caution in the current hot weather. The heat wave, along with high humidity, has brought changes in lifestyles of some residents; more people are spending more hours indoors, apparently with air conditioners running full blast.
Robin Gilmore, director of emergency department nursing at Columbus Regional Healthcare System, said the hospital’s emergency room had had no cases of heat-related illnesses during the current hot weather.
“I’m surprised,” she said of the absence of complaints resulting from excessive heat, “but we’ve had none. So far, so good.”
Judy Gore of Brunswick Electric Membership Corp., the cooperative that supplies electricity to part of Columbus County, reported that by Wednesday afternoon there had been no outages of service caused by excessive use of electricity to power air conditioners.
She said that electricity usage peaked at 308 megawatts on Tuesday between 5 and 6 p.m., and that a higher usage rate was expected for late Wednesday. The previous high usage occurred on July 4 when 307 megawatts were used, but that peak was probably the result of more people being in the area rather than excessive use of air conditioning systems, Gore said.
Progress Energy in Raleigh reported that the company had no reports of outages “at this time” in mid-afternoon on Wednesday, despite what will probably be record use of electricity.
Health officials are urging people, particularly the elderly and the young, to avoid extremely hot situations as much as possible.
Kim Smith, director of the Columbus County Health Department, said people “should drink plenty of fluids and stay out of it (hot locations) if possible.” The elderly and the young in particular should avoid situations that could lead to overheating.
“You don’t want to leave anyone, or a pet, in a car at any time,” Smith said.
People should avoid caffeine, including that in soft drinks, in extremely hot weather, she added.
Judy Ward, assistance coordinator for the Columbus County Department of Aging, says that her agency has donated about 125 electric fans to the elderly who live without air conditioning, and added: ”We’re looking for more fans.”
The agency ”definitely” has distributed more fans this year than in previous summers, Ward said.
The Department of Aging purchases fans with grants from companies and with donations from individuals and organizations. None of the agency’s budgeted funds are used to purchase the fans. Ward says she buys table and window model units not only for the lower prices but for ease in moving about by older residents.
According to instruments at the N.C. Crop Research Station northwest of Whiteville, the average high temperature last month was 91.36 degrees. The average high for July 2005 was 92.67, and for July 2004, 92.06 degrees.
The hottest day of last month showed a reading of 98 degrees on July 16. On July 28, 2005, the Research Station thermometer recorded 103 degrees, with the preceding and following days showing temperatures of more than 100 degrees.
Last year, the N.C. Forest Service facility west of Whiteville recorded a high temperature of 104 degrees on July 28. The high last month was 97 degrees on July 19 and July 28 at the Forest Service.
The temperature at the Forest Service Wednesday afternoon was recorded at 98 degrees at 2 p.m. District Forestry Ranger Mike Hardison said a Forest Service thermometer at the Nature Conservancy in Brunswick County read 102 degrees Wednesday afternoon.
The Research Station recorded a 98-degree reading at mid-afternoon on Wednesday.
Tuesday, Aug. 1, the thermometer reached 100 degrees about 2:30 p. m. at the Forest Service while the Crop Research Station’s instrument showed 96.02 degrees at about the same time, according to station Superintendent Ty Marshall.
Rainfall for the month at the Research Station totaled 4.09 inches compared to July average of 5.08 inches, Marshall said. Precipitation measured at the Forest Service totaled 4.52 inches for the month.
Farm crops in the county for the most part were unaffected by the hot weather, according to Michael Shaw of the Cooperative Extension Service, although some wilting of leaves occurs during the hottest parts of the day.
“When you get above 95 degrees, you don’t get any benefit,” Shaw said of the hot weather. “Soybeans and cotton are losing more water than their roots can take up,” he added. Extremely hot weather will cause cotton and soybeans to abort flowers from which the bolls and pods are formed “but both will come back and reset the flowers,” he said, when the weather returns to about normal summertime temperatures.
The hot weather is making corn mature quicker than normal, Shaw said.