Torrid weather taking toll on LV

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

After 15 years as a Las Vegas concrete finisher, Robert Peterson is used to working in scorching triple-digit temperatures, but the heat wave attacking the West has left him wishing for a 100-degree day so he can cool off.

"It's pretty damn hot right now," Peterson said as he finished his shift at the under-construction Sun Coast hotel-casino in northwest Las Vegas Monday afternoon. "You think you're used to the heat, but you can really feel a difference when it gets over 110. That's when it gets bad."

The high temperatures combined with no rain in Las Vegas for 145 straight days have led to drought-like conditions and the chance to break a record for consecutive days without rain in the city. The record will fall if it doesn't rain before 1 a.m. Sunday, but storm systems may find their way into Southern Nevada before then, National Weather Service meteorologist Ron McQueen said.

"What we have going on right now is pretty rare," McQueen said of the high temperatures and drought. "We're getting close to a record, but I'm pessimistic when it comes to breaking records.

"I still think we'll see some rain before we get to Saturday. It'll be nip and tuck, but the way things are lining up, we should see something."

Storm systems forming in the Southwest may break through the warm air mass over Las Vegas as early as tonight, McQueen said.

That would be good news for Peterson and other Las Vegans who have been dealing with the extreme temperatures.

"We have been working in the shade when we can and try to keep drinking water," Peterson said of the crew at the Sun Coast. "You can't wait until you're thirsty to get a drink. You have to keep sipping it through the day."

That's good advice for everyone, but many don't seem to be following it, American Medical Response spokeswoman Kathi Rice said.

"People who live here think they are used to the high temperatures, but then we get up into the teens and before they know it they're having problems," Rice said. "Then there are the tourists that are used to much lower temperatures.

"They may be drinking alcohol inside a casino and then try to walk down the Strip in the heat of the day. Next thing they know they're being put in one of our ambulances."

The heat-related calls for service by AMR have picked up with the temperature over the past few weeks, Rice said.

"Last summer we had heat calls, but that was probably more of a typical summer," she said. "There is definitely a noticeable increase in those calls this year."

The hot weather combined with a person who has health problems can be dangerous, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

"That's usually what happens when you see people dying from heat in other parts of the country," Leinbach said. "People with high blood pressure or other borderline health issues combined with dehydration can be a life-threatening situation.

"I don't think we see as many heat-related deaths in Las Vegas, partly because people are more aware of the dangers of high temperatures and most people have air conditioning. You can live here without air conditioning, but boy it's rough."

High temperatures like Monday's thermometer-topping 113 degrees also strain mechanical and electrical systems, creating a better chance for a fire in a home or car, Leinbach said.

Fire dangers are also magnified outdoors, where the hot, dry weather has created a tinderbox that could fuel a wildfire. A spark from a cigarette or the engine of an off-road vehicle could be enough to set the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area ablaze.

A haze that settled over Las Vegas Monday was caused by the smoke from two wildfires, the 15,774-acre Coyote fire in east central Nevada and the 63,270-acre blaze in California's Sequoia National Forest. Officials at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, are forecasting lightning without rain for Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada.

Last July Las Vegas saw its fair share of lightning, but it was anything but dry. A July 8 thunderstorm rolled through the city, dropping 1.29 inches of rain on the valley in less than two hours. The flood caused $25 million in property damage and killed one man.

Although similar storms have not materialized this year, McQueen said he fully expects a deluge in August.

"We're still banking on getting those storms in August, and that is the peak month of the Southwestern monsoon season, which lasts from July through September," McQueen said. "It will probably be a situation a lot like last year, where we have warm and dry conditions, and then we go to a sudden downpour in a matter of hours."