Be Careful - Dangerous heat and ozone bakes Valley

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Dangerous heat bakes Valley

By Bicksler

STAFF WRITER

Ozone alert: Temperatures expected to soar today and Wednesday

AURORA - Make no mistake, the heat is coming.

Temperatures are expected to climb to 93 degrees today and 95 degrees on

Wednesday - levels that can put some people in danger of heat stroke.

Partners for Clean Air, a cooperative organization of the Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency, industry and the government, has identified

today as an Ozone Action Day for Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana.

Ann Bhatia, a Des Plaines engineer with the group, said the heat can

cause ozone levels to rise, " because essentially what's happening is the air

is not moving. " Higher ozone levels cause oxygen molecules to bind, which

makes the air more difficult to breathe.

Despite the extreme heat, Chicago has not exceeded ozone standards during

any one-hour watch period this year.

" We do not want to (exceed) our ozone standard, " Bhatia said. " Beyond

certain standards, it is unhealthy. "

Designated " cooling centers " are available throughout the area for

people, including senior citizens, who do not have access to air

conditioning.

Kate Bouma, a cadet with the Salvation Army who works at the cooling

station on Galena Boulevard in Aurora, said Aurora's sizable homeless

population often takes advantage of the cooling center.

" This is what we usually do on a daily basis, " Bouma said. " We provide a

place for people to warm up or cool off. "

With temperatures expected to reach the 90s by Monday afternoon, most

area hospitals reported no cases of heat-related illness.

Delnor-Community Hospital in Geneva treated one man for heat exhaustion

Monday, but released him the same day.

Busch, spokeswoman, said Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, saw

no patients due to heat Monday, but has generally averaged three to four of

these patients per day.

She said doctors recommend that people in homes that are not

air-conditioned seek out a cool place, such as a shopping mall, even if it

is only for a short period of time.

" If you stay out of the heat for two hours, that gives you time to

recover and drastically reduces your chance for heat stroke, " she said.

That advice might be sorely needed.

Steve Toci, meteorologist for Murray and Trettel weather service, said

the heat index could escalate to 103 today and 105 on Wednesday.

While the heat is expected to peak between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. daily, " the

evenings are generally still in the 80s, so the evenings will not be

comfortable by any means. "

Forecasts by the National Weather Service for the Chicago metropolitan

area are even more dire - a humid 95 degrees today, with a 10 mph south

wind, and heat indexes of 105 to 110 degrees on Wednesday.

Evenings will be muggy and hazy.

The good news is that the heat is expected to taper off, with highs on

Thursday and the weekend in the mid-80s.

07/31/01