All right, summer's not quite here yet, and we certainly haven't had to worry about a heat wave in the air conditioned city and environs. But now's a good time to prepare for one.
Though our region is more often associated with freezing cold, heat can be more dangerous. Heat waves easily exceed tornadoes and severe storms as the biggest weather-related killers in the Northland, according to emergency management officials in Wisconsin, where Gov. Jim Doyle proclaimed yesterday as Heat Awareness Day.
"Heat wave events" occurred six times in each of the Northwestern Wisconsin counties of Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland, Iron, Sawyer, Washburn and Burnett since 1982, according to the National Weather Service. An event day is tallied when daytime temperatures persist over 105 degrees, nighttime temperatures remain higher than 80 degrees or when a heat-related death occurs.
Fortunately, there are things everyone can do to stay safe in severe heat. Wear light clothes, apply sunscreen, drink lots of water, hang out in the cooler basement and eat lighter meals. But other measures are easy to overlook, such as never leaving children, older people or pets in parked cars, or turning fans around to suck hot air out of the house when temperatures top 95.
Summer heat is easy to overlook in the Northland. But beware when nature's air conditioner goes on the fritz -- and think about it now, while real air conditioners are still available.
