Area’s first excessive heat warning issued

Mary Manning and Heather Rawlyk

Monday, June 7, 2004 | 11:38 a.m.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that about 400 people nationwide die each year from heat exposure. People can suffer heat-related illness when the body's temperature control system is overloaded. Warning signs of heat stroke, the most serious heat-related illness, may include the following:

The remedy: stay inside with air conditioners running and drink plenty of fluids. Wear loose clothing and sunscreen. Monitor those at risk. It takes time to adjust to the hot weather.

Weather forecasters at the National Weather Service in Las Vegas issued Southern Nevada's first excessive heat warning over the weekend, a designation that meteorologists said was warranted by the highs of 105 or higher Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The warning came under new criteria that compared heat deaths recorded in Southern Nevada with daily high temperatures, Andy Bailey of the weather service said.

"The previous criteria for this warning was actually so high that it had never been reached since records have been kept in Las Vegas," Bailey said. Formal record-keeping kept by the weather service in Las Vegas began in 1934.

At least one ambulance company saw an increase in calls for help with heat-related illnesses.

Southwest Ambulance reported responding to six incidents of heat-related illnesses this past weekend compared with none the previous weekend.

Clark County Fire Department paramedics responded to one woman overcome by heat on the Strip this past weekend, fire department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

All were treated at the scene, officials said.

University Medical Center saw no patients for heat-related ailments over the weekend, hospital spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger said.

This weekend's warnings will not be the last, forecasters said. Between eight and 12 excessive heat warnings are expected each summer under the new rules, meteorologist Brian Fuis said.

"It's new criteria issued by the weather service's western regional office," Fuis said. "When we near record highs this summer, a warning will be issued."

For example Sunday's daytime high reached 107 degrees at 3:43 p.m.

That's one degree shy of the 108-degree record set in 2002, and with Sunday's temperatures predicted to top 105 degrees, the excessive heat warning was continued through the weekend.

Weather researchers developed the new criteria by noting the high temperatures on days when people had died in Clark County from hyperthermia in the past 10 years.

The data indicates that both early and late in the season people die from the effects of heat at much lower temperatures than during the hotter months of July and August, Bailey said.

So, in the past, although an excessive heat warning was never issued, people died from overheating.

Clark County coroner's records show that between 25 and 30 people die from heat each year, Bailey said. No heat-related deaths have been recorded this year.

Previously, the weather service had had to wait until temperatures spiked to 115 degrees or more before issuing a warning.

The new criteria that trigger a warning range from 105 degrees on June 1 to 112 degrees during the hottest five or six weeks of summer -- typically July and August -- then back to 105 degrees by Sept. 1.

About 70 percent to 75 percent of the heat deaths occurred on days with high temperatures above 105 degrees, Bailey said.

To put the statistics in perspective, on average only five people are killed by tornadoes each year in the entire state of Oklahoma.

Despite the high temperatures this weekend, many Southern Nevadans ignored the heat warnings.

Kathy Ellsworth, 29, of Henderson wouldn't let the weather get in the way of her 3-year-old daughter's birthday party in Sunset Park at Sunset Road and Eastern Avenue.

More than a dozen of Ellsworth's friends and family members gathered around picnic tables and a barbecue pit in shade from a nearby tree.

"We planned on the barbecue before we knew it'd be so hot," Ellsworth said. "We were going to do lunch, but decided to have a dinner instead, thinking if it were later in the day it'd be cooler.

"We were wrong," she said.

Ellsworth brought a handful of water guns for the kids to play with and coolers full of water bottles, but that might not be enough to keep cool, she said.

"We might have to take this to my brother's house," she said. "We're having fun, but it's just way too hot out here."

Claudio, 34, and Rita Umali, 28, of Henderson, set up a picnic blanket and cooler under a tree with their cocker spaniel, Star.

Natives of Phoenix, the Umalis said it would take more than a little heat to keep them from the park this weekend.

"We try to get outside on the weekends," Claudio Umali said. "You can't let the heat take over your life. You learn to deal with it and how to stay cool when it's so hot outside.

"I think Star is having a harder time with this heat than we are," he said, patting the dog's orange coat down with handfuls of water. "We keep filling up her water and soaking her in water so she's happy."

Rita Umali said the best part of hot days are the warm nights that follow.

"It's relaxing. You can sit outside in a tank top and shorts and enjoy the night."

Green Valley residents Daniel Dempsi, 42, and his 6-year-old son, David, spent an hour fishing at the lake before deciding to pack up and go home.

"I'm sweating straight through my shirt," Daniel Dempsi said. "I brought a cooler with water and juice boxes and it was gone in less than an hour. We poured most of the water on our heads."

Having relocated to Las Vegas from Atlanta less than a year ago, Dempsi said his family is not yet used to the heat.

"We're used to muggy, but not this dry heat," he said. "It just gets you right in the throat. If it's this hot in June, I am nervous to see what July will be like here."

Nina Dennis, 30, of Las Vegas and her sister, Candice Singh, 34, of New York, walked down a jogging path with Dennis' 2-year-old Chow mix, Libby.

Singh, who was in town visiting her sister, had no idea it would be so hot.

"I asked Nina before I came if it was over 100 degrees yet and she said no," Singh said. "I got off the airplane Thursday and that first thing off the plane I was slapped by the hot air."