Hi Tom, here are a few news from this part of the world.
Much of Nation Swelters Again Monday
Monday, July 31, 2006
MINNEAPOLIS - Much of the nation had another sweltering day Monday, with
numerous heat warnings in place from Michigan to Oklahoma.
Temperatures were expected to climb into the 90s or 100s, and spark
thunderstorms.
The heat index, a measure of temperature plus humidity, was expected to
approach 105 to 110 on Monday in the Twin Cities.
Forecasts for above-normal highs were also posted for Monday along the East
Coast, where triple-digit readings were in the offing by midweek from the
Carolinas through southern New England.
In Cleveland, James Gilbert, 28, an unemployed car detailer was out looking
for work on a muggy, 81-degree Monday morning with the temperatures headed
into the 90's. He approaches staying cool methodically.
"Try to keep a lot of powder on and take a shower, a cold shower and put
powder on," said Gilbert, wearing a long white T-shirt. "Basically you've got
to bear with it."
In California, blistering temperatures subsided, but the death toll climbed
to 163 confirmed or suspected heat-related fatalities as county coroners
worked through a backlog of cases.
On Sunday in Bismarck, N.D., the thermometer hit 112 - 10 degrees above the
previous record for the date and just two degrees shy of the all-time high
set in 1936.
In Fargo, actors in Trollwood Park's performance of "Fiddler on the Roof,"
who wear wool coats for one scene, were assigned air-conditioned rooms during
intermission. Dancers at a German folk festival, also in Fargo, eliminated a
couple of numbers because of the heat, and attendance was down.
In Oklahoma on Sunday, temperatures reached 106 degrees in Stillwater and
104 degrees in Muskogee. For Oklahoma City, where the high was 102, it was
the 17th time this year that the state capital has reached triple digits.
That's compared with just twice last year and not at all in 2004.
At a Boy Scout gathering at Michigan State University in East Lansing,
youths stayed in mostly un-air-conditioned dorms, and organizers had 20 to 25
medical professionals on hand.
Scouts were being warned to pay attention if they started feeling the
effects of the heat. "Get indoors, take it easy," Order of the Arrow director
Clyde Mayer said. "The Boy Scout motto is, `Be prepared.' And I think our
guys will be."
Associated Press writers Tom Sheeran in Cleveland and Murray Evans in
Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
