Heat, humidity stifle Quad-Cities

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By Kurt Allemeier | Monday, August 4, 2008 9:13 PM CDT | () comments

The sun beat down Monday on the curves and contours of the Davenport Skatepark as a handful of teens braved a one-day heat wave.

Temperatures climbed into the lower 90s, peaking at 92 degrees, but oppressive humidity pushed the heat index to 108 degrees. With a front moving through, the weather is expected to return to a summertime average today, with highs in the mid-80s after possible morning thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service in the Quad-Cities.

The sun, occasionally obscured by clouds, seared the skatepark’s concrete Monday. Skaters picked themselves up quickly after a spill.

“When people fall, they usually lay there for a minute, but not now,” Jon Marler, 17, of Rock Island, said. “You could do the egg trick on this.”

Marler and the other skateboarders wore long pants, but many shed their shirts in a nod to the heat. They took turns making a beeline between the park and a nearby gas station for cool drinks. They expected more skaters to show up at the park after the sun went down.

Alex Gould, 12, of Davenport, took a break for a swig of his sports drink. He brought a helmet but occasionally skated without it because of the heat.

“You’ve got to stop sometimes,” he said of a break he took before returning to his skateboard. “It is hot out here.”

Construction workers at an apartment building project on River Drive know a few tricks of the trade when the heat is on. They drink water often, wear something such as a towel or a bandanna to protect their necks and don’t wear black shirts.

“I didn’t think it was that hot out,” David McArtor, of Kalona, Iowa, said. “I don’t think it is the heat so much as it is the humidity.”

While construction workers and skaters adapted to the heat, others looked for a place to escape it. A library is a popular place to stop and cool off, and traffic was up at the main Rock Island library, director Ava Ketter said.

“We’re air-conditioned, we have water fountains. You can sit down and read a magazine and enjoy the cool,” she said. “We’re a public cooling station.”

Monday’s high temperature was well below the record high of 100 degrees for the date set in 1947. In fact, the Quad-Cities has enjoyed a fairly comfortable summer with only four days of 90 degree-plus temperatures, including two in July, which averages 8.6 days above 90 degrees.

The normal high at this time of year is 86 degrees, and that is what is forecast for the Quad-Cities today along with high temperatures in the lower 80s and fair skies later this week.

“Things are actually looking pretty good,” Bill Elliott of the National Weather Service said.

Kurt Allemeier can be contacted at (563) 383-2360 or kallemeier@qctimes.com.