LUMBERTON — Following a week of temperatures that reached or hovered around triple-digits, the heatwave that has been suffocating Robeson County has lost very little steam.
Friday’s high of 97 degrees broke the triple-digit streak that began June 13 and is now tied for the longest run of triple-digit highs on record for Robeson County. The only other time temperatures crossed the 100-degree mark for six consecutive days was during August 2007.
The record would have been surpassed if not for the slight dip in temperature Friday. Today’s forecast calls for a high of 100 degrees, with temperatures expected to hover near the triple-digit mark all of next week. The highs during the next few days are 98 degrees on Sunday; 100 degrees on Monday, with a 20 percent chance of precipitation; and 99 degrees on Tuesday, with a 10 percent chance of precipitation.
“We’re certainly getting into the rarefied air right now, so to speak,” said Tim Armstrong, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington. “This heat wave is affecting pretty much all of Eastern North Carolina.”
Armstrong advises residents to drink lots of non-alcoholic fluids and wear light clothing to keep cool in the coming days. He also recommends that they stay inside if possible.
But outdoor workers like Daril Britt can’t afford to wait for things to cool down.
Britt was part of a city maintenance crew digging holes at Lumberton Mobile Home Park this week..
“We’re doing all right, a little wet and sweat,” he said. “But we are taking more frequent breaks and trying to get out as early as we can.”
A city employee working at Northeast Park on Friday shared his strategy for beating the heat, which involves joining his coworkers for breaks beneath the shade of nearby tree.
“You wear a sombrero, drink lots of water and pace yourself,” he said. “If we get a little bit warm, we just get in the truck and turn on the AC.”
But as Markus Dowless can attest, a truck can offer only so much relief from triple-digit temperatures. Dowless owns Flower’s Food, a small business that delivers bread to Lumberton restaurants.
He and his brother were trying not to fry while hauling hamburger buns inside the Cook Out on North Roberts Avenue on Thursday.
“The heat is really not that bad, it’s really the humidity,” Dowless said. “I’m drinking lots of Gatorade and water. No soft drinks.”
When excessive heat pairs with humidity, outdoor workers are put at increased risk of dehydration and heatstroke.
To reduce the risk of heat illness during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned environments.
The National Weather Service advises people to know the symptoms of heat-related illnesses. Special care should be taken with people who are most vulnerable to the heat, such as young children and the elderly. People and pets should never be left unattended in sealed vehicles during hot weather, since temperatures inside can climb to lethal levels within minutes.
The service also advises people to make sure their pets and livestock have plenty of drinking water and shaded ventilation.
Extreme heat causes an average of 658 deaths in the United States each year — more than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and lightning combined.
