No triple digits, but heat wave persists

Published 3:03 pm Thursday, July 30, 2009

After yesterday’s record-setting 103-degree boiler, Mother Nature turned down the thermometer Thursday.

Ever so slightly.

Auburn reached 90 degrees by mid-afternoon with the hottest part of the day still ahead. The National Weather Service forecasts cooler temperatures for the weekend; but cities in the Green River Valley are expected to flirt with the 90s.

To beat the heat this week, some chose to duck into theaters, others dipped their tootsies into a local lake or floated lazily down the Green River on inner tubes.

But when Jim Lee heard the City of Auburn was offering two cooling centers for heat-maddened humans baking, frying and sizzling in this week’s record temperatures, he said “nuts” to his sweltering apartment and made straight for the Auburn Senior Activity Center.

That’s where the 64-year old retiree was at noon Tuesday, cool, collected, nibbling lunch alongside other heat refugees.

“It’s cool, and there’s nice people here, too,” Lee said with a smile.

The City of Auburn designated two cooling centers, the Auburn Senior Activity Center and Auburn City Hall, and threw them open to people of all ages and to properly caged or restrained pets. Both were available from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m., until the excessive heat warning ended.

That was welcome news to Carolyn Case and her 92-year-old mother, Ada Thurgood.

“My house on Lea Hill is 95 degrees,” Case explained, as she sat next to Lee on Tuesday. “I have fans everywhere at home, but they don’t help. They just blow the hot air around.”

Case said she’d heard about the cooling stations Monday morning on the radio while driving, so she called police to find out where the centers were.

“They told me three different locations,” Case said. “Yesterday, we went to Auburn City Hall. It was too cold for my mother, so we came here today. It’s nice here.”

The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning and air stagnation advisory on Monday. It was expected to remain in effect until 6 p.m. today.