Rising Temps Just a Speed Bump in Busy Weekend

Charles Aldrich and Cathleen Zart stroll around the Folklife Festival. Despite temperatures in the mid-90s, Aldrich wore five layers of 17th-century garb. (Photo By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)

Temperatures rose to the mid-90s yesterday and are expected to hover at that level through most of Wednesday, when the mini-sizzler gives way to what one meteorologist described as a more seasonally appropriate "cold front" -- the mid-to-upper 80s.

"We're talking relative terms here. We're not talking absolutes," said Calvin Meadows, a National Weather Service spokesman.

Ronald Woodard, 50, would have welcomed even a suggestion of cooler air as he navigated the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall yesterday, where it felt like 100 degrees and organizers handed out tens of thousands of free fans.

"I'm just making sure I'm walking slow, sitting down plenty and getting enough water," Woodard said.

The heat wave has prompted the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to issue a Code Orange alert, indicating that air quality is unhealthy for children, the elderly and people with heart or respiratory ailments.

Today, the District government is opening cooling centers at One Judiciary Square, the Frank D. Reeves Center on 14th Street NW, the King Office Building on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and the Public Center on M Street SW. The District's Department of Motor Vehicles said it will open at 5 a.m. and close at 1 because of the heat.

Local bus service in Northern Virginia is free on Code Orange and Red days in an effort to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

At the National Zoo yesterday afternoon, the main electrical line went out, cutting power to most of the zoo's buildings for at least an hour. John Gibbons, a zoo spokesman, said that no exhibit was disrupted and that it was unclear whether the outage was heat-related. The heat didn't affect the animals, he said, because the zoo is not home to "temperature-delicate species."

Yesterday's temperature did not come close to eclipsing the record of 100 degrees, set in 1993. In fact, the first week of July was a bit cooler than average -- by 1.9 degrees, Meadows said.

Less rain has fallen than usual, although the forecast calls for scattered showers as the weather begins to cool late Wednesday.

The heat did not keep crowds away from the Folklife Festival, which ended yesterday. Organizers said that at least 60,000 people attended the last day's events, far more than their goal of 54,000.

"I have a big container of water in my purse, and if I feel too heated I sit down," said Opa Owiye, 26, of Capitol Hill.

Dylan Anderson, 29, soothed himself with the thought that the heat wasn't nearly as bad as in his native Houston. "You just have to sit and tough it out," he said, noting that summertime temperatures of 102 degrees are not uncommon in Houston.

Ann Carino, visiting from California, seconded the notion that Washingtonians don't have much to complain about. "It's hotter in Los Angeles right now," she said.

If anyone had the right to gripe it was Charles Aldrich, a festival performer, who was dressed in five layers of 17th-century garb, including a shirt, vest and wool coat.

But he said he's more than accustomed to life as a summertime mummy.

"You just have to walk slowly," he said. "There's no need to have to be in a hurry."