Sticky business: Dry heat? Not this time of year

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 10:53 a.m.

Most Las Vegans can stand the 110-degree temperatures because at least it's a dry heat -- dry as a blowtorch, but dry nonetheless.

But in the monsoon season of July, a steady moisture begins to infiltrate the Las Vegas Valley -- jumping the humidity level from 10 percent to 15 percent daily in June to above 30 percent through most of July, according to National Weather Service meteorologists.

Wednesday's humidity level reached 79 percent as thunderstorms and light rain hit the city. National Weather Service forecasters expect the air to dry up over the weekend and then gradually increase in humidity again next week.

And as the humidity rises, so does the risk for heatstroke and the strain on air conditioning systems around the valley. More then anything, however, Las Vegas locals find the humidity annoying -- it wreaks havoc on hair and drains away energy to leave natives tired, sluggish and cranky.

"The humidity makes me crazy," said Ann Sanders, a massage therapist at the Desert Rose Salon in Henderson. "It would be nice if it rained, but hot and sticky is not fun. It makes everybody kind of crabby."

Humidity makes the air feel hotter because it brings heat into the body and traps it there, University Medical Center emergency room Dr. Jeff Greenlee said. This can lead to high internal body temperatures that can lead to heatstroke.

"Humid air is more effective at delivering heat to your body than dry air is," Greenlee said. "That's why when the Southern United States goes through a heat wave, and they have 90-degree temperatures with 90-percent humidity, you read in the paper of older people succumbing and dying of heat stroke."

Humidity also can impair the body's ability to cool itself through perspiration, trapping that heat inside, Greenlee said.

So far, however, the humidity of Las Vegas hasn't risen enough to stop people from perspiring. In fact, that is what most natives out and about running errands Thursday were complaining of.

"I'm so sweaty" Judi Widder said as she bought groceries at an area Smith's. "Women are supposed to glisten, but I flat-out sweat."

Tony Roman, an air conditioning specialist with Mr. Cool Refrigeration, agreed.

"It's murder, it makes me sweat like a pig," he said.

The humidity also makes air conditioning units sweat, as they work to dehumidify the air. The moisture pulled out of the house often condenses around the pipes, but Roman said that is perfectly normal. Air conditioners have to work harder to cool homes because of the humidity, while at the same time making the people inside hotter to begin with, Roman said.

The increased moisture also destroys hairstyles within minutes of stepping outside, Vedonna's Vanity owner Vedonna Erikson said.

"Humidity flattens hair out a lot," Erikson said. "Hairstyles don't stay at all. And if they have real natural curl it curls up and doesn't do what they want at all."

Erikson said her customers have been complaining about humidity's effects on their hair for the last couple of weeks. Many locals running errands Thursday also complained about their hair being limp or frizzy from the muggy air.

Salon managers at the Salon Mirage at the Mirage hotel-casino said that humidity makes hair very hard to deal with, specifically for those with naturally curly hair. To make the best of a humid situation, assistant manager Roxane Hopcia said to avoid heavy hair sprays and use a volumizer for fine hair and a moisturizer for frizzy, curly hair.

Salon manager Chuck Oliverio, however, said that the humidity Las Vegas is experiencing this month is nothing like what he and Hopcia were used to on the East Coast.

"We're from the New York area, so we're used to experiencing 70, 80, 90 percent humidity, which feels like a steam room," Oliverio said.

But for natives and locals who have moved here from other West Coast locations, the moisture is miserable.

"I thought it was supposed to be dry, dry, dry and it's sticky, sticky, sticky," former California resident Sally Bain said as she shopped.

For Orange County transplants Don and Chris Jensen, the humidity made them "sweaty, cranky and threatening to leave Las Vegas."

"We moved over here because of the dry air," Don Jensen said. "We feel the humidity immediately."