Record-breaking temperatures today

John Dickey

Jul. 9, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Sweat was a good thing for outdoor workers on this week's second day of blazing hot temperatures on Tuesday.

Marysville's high temperature reached 109 degrees but was not a record, according to the National Weather Service.

Today's high is predicted at 110 degrees, breaking the 106-degree record for the day set in 2002.

Thursday and Friday aren't likely to be much better with temperatures reaching 109 degrees and 104 degrees, respectively.

Some had seen co-workers in the past knocked down by the Mid-Valley heat. And lack of sweat was often the first sign before trouble.

Dave Rogers was working for another company several years ago when he saw a co-worker with heat exhaustion get in his car at the end of the work day and pass out.

Rogers was working Tuesday as a concrete foreman for McGuire and Hester, contractor for the Plumas Streetscape project.

Plumas Street is hot with no shade. And concrete might set in an hour instead of two hours, meaning crews have to work harder.

"Unfortunately, there's no way to hide from the sun here," said Rogers. "You either work in the heat or you don't work."

But precautions were being taken. Tuesday's work day started at 5 a.m. and was done by 1:30 p.m. A chest full of ice and bottles of sports beverages kept construction crews hydrated. The day before, the company reviewed heat stroke symptoms so construction workers could keep an eye on their co-workers.

Construction workers were fighting the heat by drinking plenty of liquids during the second day of health advisories for air quality and extreme heat issued by Sutter and Yuba counties and the Feather River Air Quality Management District.

"Lots of liquids while you're working or else you will drop like a rock," said Roger Abbott, foreman with R.V. Tomlinson Construction Inc. He was working on a roofing project on Walnut Avenue.

While construction workers were going to tough it out in the heat, older people, children and people with respiratory and heart conditions faced additional problems because of bad air.

Particulates from wildfires put Tuesday's air quality in the unhealthy range, said Michael Kinnison, Sutter County's public health officer.

Kinnison said there were tentative plans for cooling shelters if nighttime temperatures stayed above 80 degrees. The plans had not been put in place as of late Tuesday because forecasts called for lows in the 70s.

"We just kind of play it by ear, follow the forecast," said Kinnison. "We're hoping by the end of this week those warnings will no longer be needed."

Health officials were posting warnings in Sutter County for farm workers who have to do backbreaking work in the heat --a possibly dangerous combination. A 17-year-girl died of heat stroke in May while working on a farm near Lodi when it was 95 degrees, highlighting the dangers of working in the fields during hot weather.

"It's really, really rough," said Niam Rafferty, operations manager for the Western Farm Workers Association in Yuba City.

The California Independent System Operator, the agency that monitors the state's power grid, asked utility consumers to reduce power use in the late afternoon when air conditioners drive electricity use during the highest point of the day.

No blackouts were expected, but grid monitors are concerned that some transmission lines could be in danger from the hundreds of wildfires burning across California or that a power plant could be forced to shut down unexpectedly.

"If something breaks, that has the potential to really put us behind the eight ball," said Gregg Fishman, a spokesman for the Independent System Operator.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0131-26544357