Valley tries to cool it as mercury hits 111

Lanette Fisher-Hertz

Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | 10:57 a.m.

Even Las Vegans have their limits -- and with today's temperature expected to tie the 1943 National Weather Service record of 113 degrees, people were reaching theirs.

As temperatures hit 111 Monday, Nevada Power came within several points of its system peak for customer usage, fans and cooling systems sold out of local stores, and homeowners were often frustrated in their search for a way to keep cool.

"My calls increase by almost 50 percent every time we have a heat wave like this," said Mr. Cool Refrigeration owner Tony Roman, "People feel like their units just aren't working as well. But air-conditioning is only meant to cool a house 20 to 30 degrees lower than the ambient air.

"So if someone calls me when it's 115 outside and they tell me their house is cooled to 80 degrees, I tell them they're doing well."

Nevada Power spokeswoman Sonya Headen reported the valley had consumed 4,405 megawatts of power by 5 p.m. Monday. That was just seven megawatts fewer than the record-breaking 4,412 consumed on the day of Las Vegas' only rolling blackout, which left 10,000 Las Vegans with no electricity for nearly an hour on July 2, 2001.

"We're in a better situation this summer than we were last summer, and we are definitely committed to keeping the lights on," Headen said. "So long as we don't lose a major generator (as the utility did during last year's outage), we shouldn't have any problems."

Headen says last April's problems were prompted by the company's financial condition -- not a shortage in power. Because the Las Vegas utility generates just 50 percent of its summer electricity and must purchase the remainder on the open market, it has been vulnerable to market volatility in the past.

"The market then was just so tight, California was buying everything on the open market, we were in an energy crisis," Headen said. "This summer, because of the contract we signed with Duke Energy in June, we're in a better situation."

Even with their power pumping, Southern Nevadans were still seeking relief from temperatures predicted to break records throughout the week. The National Weather Service reported a high for Monday of 111 degrees, and some meteorologists reported temperatures as high as 116 in other parts of the Las Vegas Valley.

"While it's true that we are above normal right now," said National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Pierce, who noted the average high temperature for this time of year is 104, "this is the Mojave Desert, after all. So when it's hot, most people aren't really surprised."

Pierce said the current heat wave doesn't even come close to qualifying the Las Vegas Valley for an "excessive heat warning," which the weather service only declares if temperatures exceed 115 during the day and fail to dip below 90 degrees at night for a minimum of 48 hours.

That's little relief for anyone outside.

"We've been swamped with people looking for a better way to cool off," said Arvin Bautista, sales associate at Sharper Image. The store-brand Personal Cooling System, a $50 product that users wear around their necks to "cool blood vessels," had been selling briskly, he said, while the store's fan coolers had sold out completely.

People are more willing to seek any measure of relief, however slight, when temperatures reach this level, said Marisa Hempstead, who has been working as a valet at the Rio for the past three years. She said customers use valet more when it's hot.

"People do get cranky when it's 115 degrees," she said, "and no one likes to sit in their cars when it's hot. If they can get in the club a little faster with valet, they'll come here even if they might normally park themselves."

Accustomed as they are to the searing sunshine, Las Vegans appear to be avoiding any of the more serious difficulties associated with heat waves in other parts of the country.

Such common sense seems to be keeping most people indoors -- and preventing most heat-related illnesses. "Basically," explained Troy Repuzka, a registered nurse at Sunrise Hospital, "we don't see heat-related health problems in most folks because they know enough to come in out of the heat."