Could It Be Any Hotter?

Laura Strong of Connecticut looks towards the National Archives as she wades in the fountain in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. (Adam Golfer / post.com)

"If you just go out for an hour, you're not going to get a burn in your lungs," which can happen in extreme cases, said Joan Rohlfs, an official at the council of governments. "But it does have cumulative effects."

The heat broiled anybody and anything unlucky to be outdoors.

At the Washington Redskins' training camp in Loudoun County, defensive back Pierson Prioleau, a South Carolina native, came off the practice field early last night with nothing but the heat on his mind. Prioleau sought out the team's training staff after the last snap of practice, believing he might have lost upward of six pounds during the two-hour workout.

He was told to drink 20 ounces of fluid for every pound dropped.

"That's the real deal out there," Prioleau said to anyone within earshot. "It was hot last year, too, but not like that."

Some of the area's most fortunate residents might have been those who live at the National Zoo. The giant pandas retreated into their specially cooled outdoor grottoes, and the river otters munched on carrot-sicles, a special hot-weather treat from keepers.

Even for people who stayed inside, the heat was hard to avoid. It overcame the weak air-conditioning at the D.C. jail, adding one more misery to a place that has plenty. "It is hot as hell in there," said D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), who toured the jail yesterday with council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and mayoral candidate Michael Brown.

The heat seeped into the non-air-conditioned auditorium at Adelaide Davis Elementary School in the District, where children in a summer camp were preparing for a performance that included drumming and poetry reading. Camp leaders plugged in every fan, but that only seemed to move the hot air around.

"It's just dangerous to be in a 100-degree building," said Jamila Larson, one of the camp directors, who said she wrote letters to city officials earlier in the summer to alert them of the heat problem.

In recent days, the National Weather Service's maps have shown an orange-red blotch in the middle of the country -- the handiwork of the air mass that gave Sioux Falls, S.D., its first 100-degree day in four years. For today, the map shows the red blotch forming over the Washington area.

In response, officials in the District and several suburban counties will open up "cooling centers" for residents to escape the heat. D.C. officials will also open up "street showers," the official term for an opened fire hydrant, in five locations around the city.

Officials urged people to check in on elderly relatives or acquaintances, who may be particularly vulnerable to the heat.

Metro passengers should prepare for delays and crowded conditions on all rail lines this week. Metro plans to start slowing trains to 45 mph in the aboveground sections, instead of running at the top speed of 59 mph, to conserve electricity.

In addition, Metro will add two to three minutes between trains during the afternoon rush. Maintenance personnel will inspect the tracks in the aboveground sections for "heat kinks," which form when overheated track expands.

Relief from the heat wave is expected to arrive around Friday, when, forecasters say, a cold front from the Great Lakes will move the hot air to the south.

But, because this is August in Washington, "relief" and "cold" will hardly have their usual meanings: After the front passes, forecasters say, temperatures will plunge -- all the way down to the high 80s.

Staff writers Michael Alison Chandler, Liz Clarke, Daniel De Vise, Rosalind S. Helderman, Allison Klein, Theola S. Labbé, Jason La Canfora, Ann E. Marimow, Lena H. Sun, Martin Weil, Eric M. Weiss and Dan Zak contributed to this report.