Kyle and Robyn Newcomb, visiting from Wisconsin, do their best to stay cool in weather that the National Weather Service said topped out at 110 degrees Wednesday as the walk across the footbridge near the Bellagio.
Thursday, July 16, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.
Romona Olivas and her husband, Boroteo, of El Paso, Texas, walked along the Strip on Wednesday afternoon under a flowery umbrella.
It wasn’t raining; they were just trying to escape the sun.
“We’re used to the heat, but not this hot,” Romona Olivas said.
Temperatures on Wednesday climbed to 110 degrees — the highest of the year so far — and were forecast to reach 111 today and 112 on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Andrew Gorelow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas, said the normal high this time of year is about 105 degrees. The record high for today’s date was 116 degrees set in 1998.
Ginger Vanderveer of Illinois was wearing a lime green hat and a lightweight long-sleeved shirt as she walked the Strip. “It is hot, but if you dress right, wear the right hat, you can keep cool,” she said.
Vanderveer said she has been going inside a lot to rest in the air conditioning to keep from overheating.
“And I’m glad to see that these misters help out along the way,” she said, pointing to a row of them near a restaurant.
Cory Russell, physician manager at UMC Quick Care, said the clinic is seeing patients suffering from heat-related illnesses — from headaches to heat exhaustion. “This is the warmest part of the year, so this is when you get the most cases,” he said.
Russell advises people to drink water even when they don’t feel thirsty, stay away from caffeine, alcohol and other diuretics that dehydrate the body, wear cool, light linen clothes and avoid the direct sunlight.
Jason Del Campo of California soaked his head as he walked by a row of misters on the Strip.
“To be honest, it doesn’t feel as hot as it really is out here,” he said. “It feels like it’s in the 90s to me. Everybody told us when we got out here that it was going to be really, really bad, but it’s not that bad. We’re enjoying it.”
His fiancee, Janelle Hansen, said, “We prepared ourselves for the worst.”
“With a little sunscreen and some cocktails,” Del Campo added.
Charles and Elizabeth Booth of Washington stood near a mister farther down the street. They said they’ve been to Las Vegas several times, but the hot, dry weather is always a shock to their systems.
So why visit the desert in the middle of July?
“We needed to get away,” Charles Booth said.
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