Sweltering heat to subside by Wednesday, meteorologist says

By Greg Gaudio

The oppressive heat meant special instructions for staff of the YMCA’s Camp Red Feather in Virginia Beach.

“Keep your water bottles filled,” director Jamie Childress told his counselors Tuesday. “A lot of stomachaches and headaches happen in heat like this.”

“And if the kids ask, don’t say it’s hot. Say it feels good out here.”

Right.

Norfolk International Airport recorded 95 degrees and the heat index hit 100 there Tuesday afternoon, the hottest marks since July 4, when the temperature reached 96.

The heat was stifling enough for Childress to hold afternoon games in an air-conditioned gymnasium, instead of outdoors.

“I was like, 'Finally,’ ” said Nasir Fanning, 8, of Norfolk. “I felt so sweaty. I thought I was going to have a heat stroke.”

Even indoors, routine water breaks were the order of the day – one every 15 minutes. “I’m really happy we have the water coolers,” said Wyatt Derkach, 8, of Norfolk. “That helped a lot.”

Ice cream, anyone?

“We’ve had better sales today than we’ve had in a couple of months,” reported Maria Olah, a manager at Yoder Dairies store on Princess Anne Road.

Even the employees were ordering. Workers in the milk processing facility – behind the store on Princess Anne Road – battled a broken air conditioner.

“Without the A.C., it’s about 110 back there,” plant manager Brian Lund said.

Others took to the water to cool off.

Shawn Singree, of Chesapeake, waited until after 4 p.m. to bring her family to Ocean Breeze Waterpark.

“It’s flippin’ miserable,” she said.

A sea breeze began cooling things down around 2 p.m. Tuesday, said Mike Montefusco, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wakefield.

A cold front this evening should bring a 40 percent chance of rain daily through Friday, keeping temperatures to the upper 80s, he said.