By Sue Anne Pressley Montes and Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 18, 2006; A01
The fiercest summer heat to hit the Washington region in four years led officials yesterday to throw open cooling shelters and caution moderation and sent tourists in the nation's capital scurrying to their hotel swimming pools for relief.
It hit 98 degrees in the shade -- with a high approaching 100 expected today.
For the first time since summer 2004, a Code Red day for the region -- when air quality is expected to be unhealthy -- was declared for today by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The health advisory urges children, older adults and individuals with heart or breathing ailments to limit outdoor activities. In an effort to reduce air pollution, residents are also asked not to worsen conditions by driving unnecessarily or using gasoline-powered mowers.
Fares will be waived today on Metrobus routes in Maryland and Northern Virginia.
The mid-Atlantic was not the only region sagging under a heat wave. Excessive heat warnings were issued from Las Vegas to New Jersey as temperatures from coast to coast soared into the upper 90s and beyond. In Illinois, where a 1995 heat wave killed about 700 people, officials opened more than 130 buildings as cooling centers for residents without air conditioning.
The searing heat wave underscored a point made by the National Climatic Data Center last week, when it reported that the first half of 2006 was the warmest stretch in the United States since record-keeping began in 1895. The average temperature for the continental United States for the first six months of the year was 51.8 degrees. That is 3.4 degrees above the average in the 20th century.
In the Washington area, the last time temperatures hit 100, as they could today, was Aug. 13, 2002, said meteorologist Chris Strong of the National Weather Service.
Although weather forecasters initially called for a string of miserable, stifling days, they were hoping for an early respite tomorrow, when a cool front moving through the area is expected to dial the temperatures back to the more typical low 90s. By the weekend, another welcome front could bring afternoon temperatures down to the 80s, Strong said.
"This heat wave is short-lived, certainly," he said. "We will be back soon to more typical July weather."
In the meantime, however, it was scorching: In the District, the Emergency Management Agency opened cooling centers yesterday in senior centers and federal buildings. In Montgomery County, free electric fans were offered to the elderly. In Howard County, the Recreation and Parks Department made some changes to its schedule to make sure students could be close to air conditioning. And in Loudoun County, more than 100 children stayed home from tennis or baseball classes run by the parks and recreation department.
"Our number one goal is safety," said Rick Oldfield, sports program manager for Loudoun's Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Service. He said programs would be canceled "if we feel like it's going to do any harm."
Several area hospitals reported people came to emergency rooms with heat-related illnesses, particularly dehydration. Paula Faria, a spokeswoman for the Washington Hospital Center, said more people probably experienced heat-related medical problems than was reported because many conditions, such as asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes, are aggravated by extreme temperatures.
At the Oasis Center for the Homeless Aged on Vermont Avenue NW, Phillip Howard took heed. He said he did not go out to sell Street Sense newspapers yesterday because he feared that the heat would aggravate his high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis.
"I'm just chilling, drinking water and watching a movie today," he said.
Utilities reported relatively minor power outages at peak hours yesterday. At one point, more than 3,300 homes were without power in Northern Virginia, but by early today, Dominion Virginia Power's outage figure had dropped to 311.
Pepco had about 3,000 customers without electricity at one point yesterday, although the cause of the outages wasn't clear. Early today, Pepco reported more than 2,200 outages in the District and nearly 650 in Montgomery.
Spokesmen for the utilities expected supply to exceed demand through the end of the heat wave. Pepco said its power usage record could be broken this week.
Pepco spokeswoman Debbi Jarvis said the utility issued a call about 12:30 p.m. for conservation, at the request of the multistate interconnection to which it belongs.
The heat and humidity were hard on Metro riders dismayed by out-of-service escalators. At any given moment, 40 to 45 of Metro's 588 escalators are typically broken or scheduled for routine maintenance, said David Lacosse, Metro's director for escalators and elevators.
"If you have any health issues, please do not climb the Dupont Circle escalator on a hot day like today," he said.
Metro officials said they were not aware of any riders who became sick from the heat while climbing an escalator that was out of service. But last week, passengers at Huntington and Bethesda said riders were complaining about being out of breath while trudging up broken escalators. Those escalators have since been repaired.
The heat did cause a kink in the rail between the Cheverly and Deanwood stations at the height of rush hour yesterday, delaying passengers as trains were forced to share a track for an hour while repairs were made.
Tourists felt the full force of the heat, as shirts stuck to backs, makeup melted and ice cream cones turned into dribbly messes. But there was little cause for complaint, visitor Joyce Chapman said -- it was just as hot back home.
"We were foot-touring today," said Chapman, of Spartanburg, S.C., as her sweating fiance, Jack Hughes, nodded. "But we're kind of miserable. I guess we'll go back to the pool at the hotel."
Others managed to see a pleasing side to the scorching heat.
"It's much better hot than wet," said Lowry Igleheart-Keach of Henderson, Ky., studying restaurant options on Main Street in Annapolis. "I'm a sunshine person."
Some people, of course, had no choice but to tough it out.
Postman John Horwath drove his route through Leesburg yesterday in summer uniform: blue shorts and a short-sleeved cotton shirt that was half unbuttoned. "Wish I had a tank top," he said.
"They call it the dog days of summer. That's what it feels like," he said as he unlocked mailboxes at a group of townhouses and sifted through an armful of mail.
On such hot days, he said, it's easier to walk the route than to ride in a truck with sealed windows and no air conditioning. To keep cool, he packed a 64-ounce bottle of Gatorade and a plastic container full of ice. But, he said, nothing helps -- until 4:30 p.m. when his shift ends and he can go home.
Staff writers Christian Davenport, Daniel de Vise, Michael Alison Chandler, Shearon Roberts, Philip Rucker, Megan Greenwell and Martin Weil contributed to this report.