Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Despite Heat, Few Problems Exist In County

As hot as it's been, there have been few, if any, heat related problems.

However, Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said there is no need to worry about either the supply of water or electricity.

While the heat is serious, and is a hardship on the elderly, he said, there have been no deaths or injuries because of it.

Still, he urges those who can to stay inside under air conditioning if possible.

The city's water system, he said, is checked regularly and has a monitoring system to warn if there are any leaks.

At this time the city is in the process of redesigning the treatment plant to add an extra filter, along with another holding tank for water. This tank, Taylor said, will hold 500,000 gallons of water for the city to use.

As far as the electricity is concerned, he said, the city is only using about half the load factor it can, so there's no problem in this area, other than the temporary brown outs the city experiences.

John Teeter, local meteorologist, said the mercury never hit the century mark in July, though it did reach 99 on July 29 and 30.

It was also a dry month, as only 0.58 inches of rain fell. Normally, July receives 3.27 inches of rain.

In fact, Teeter said, it only rained one day, July 11.

The 0.58 inches isn't much rain, but it is far from a record, he said. The lowest July on record was 1886 when only 0.29 inches of rain fell.

The heat and dry conditions are also affecting the Nevada County Road Department.

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown said nobody likes this part of the summer, but it hasn't really slowed down the road crews.

However, instead of grading many roads, the crews are cleaning out ditches instead.

Brown said the gravel hauling is down from normal, but this is because the road surface is too hard to grade and wears the blades out too fast.

Grader blades, he said, get dull after about 30 minutes of use and, in these conditions, only last a day-and-a-half or so.

The road crews, he added, are taking frequent breaks to make sure they don't get dehydrated.

Brown also pointed out Nevada County is under a burn ban at this time. The ban, he said, will remain in effect until a sufficient amount of rain falls to justify it being lifted.

Rex Dollar, with the Nevada County Extension Service, said the heat is taking its toll on cattle as well.

Ranchers, he said, need to make sure their livestock has shade and plenty of water available, but little else can be done.

Earlier in the year, Dollar said, farmers were able to get in good first cuts of hay as the area enjoyed a wet spring.

Now, he continued, the hay is being cut just to get it out of the fields. Without rain nothing will grow in the area.

However, Dollar added, farmers and ranchers were more fortunate this year than in 1998.

In 1998, he said, it got hot early and stayed hot so the farmers weren't able to get good cuttings of hay. This hurt many area farmers then.

This year, though, the area had a wet June and farmers were able to get plenty of hay cut from their fields.

Now, though, he said, the heat is hard on everything. "It will rain again, we just don't know when."

In the meantime, people need to follow the old common sense rules of thumb in dealing with intense heat.

First, stay out of it as much as possible. Stay in air conditioned places or at least cool, dark places.

Drink plenty of fluids, even when not thirsty. Dehydration can occur without a person realizing it.

When a person must be out in the sun, especially in the heat of the day, they need to wear loose fitting, light colored clothing and apply sun screen to those parts of the body exposed to the sun.

Also, take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water. Avoid drinks with alcohol or caffeine when out of doors.