Triple-Digit Heat Returns To Oklahoma

Tuesday, August 7th 2007, 3:05 pm

By: News On 6

MOORE, Okla. (AP) _ After a mostly cooler- and wetter-than-normal summer, temperatures have started to rise in Oklahoma and forecasters are predicting triple-digit heat for some parts of the state this week.

Heat is suspected to have caused the death of a Wichita, Kan., man in the LeFlore County town of Panama on Aug. 2, said Kevin Rowland, chief investigator for the state medical examiner's office. Rowland said Jesus Tovas, 47, had a body temperature of 107.9 when he was taken to a hospital after working on train tracks.

Last year, a record 28 people in Oklahoma died from heat-related causes.

``Looking at the extended forecast, I'm quite concerned it's going to get going again,'' Rowland said.

A handful of towns in northwestern Oklahoma and the Panhandle topped 100 degrees this week, with Guymon in Texas County recording the state's hottest temperature this year at 105 on Monday, National Weather Service meteorologist Ken Gallant said.

The heat wave arrived just in time to greet state high school football players, who began preseason practices on Tuesday, as well as golfers and fans at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, where the PGA Championship will start on Thursday.

``This is not really that unusual,'' Gallant said of the rising temperatures. ``This is a typical summer pattern, but as wet as we were in June and into July, we haven't seen more typical summertime weather until now.''

Besides Guymon, temperatures of 100 degrees or higher were recorded on Sunday or Monday _ or both _ in the towns of Hooker, Goodwell, Buffalo, Beaver, Freedom and Medford, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Those were the state's first triple-digit temperatures since July 8, when Goodwell's high was 103 and Hooker's high was 101.

The first triple-digit heat of the year in Oklahoma came on June 19, when the temperature reached 100 in Tipton in southwestern Oklahoma.

The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for 10 counties in northeastern Oklahoma, an area that includes Tulsa, through 7 p.m. Sunday. Forecasters say hot afternoon temperatures and humid conditions will persist through then across that area.

The Emergency Medical Services Authority in Tulsa said its paramedics provided treatment to 11 fans who attended the PGA Championship's second round on Tuesday.

On Monday, 18 fans who attended the event were treated, including six who showed signs of heat-related illness.

EMSA and the Tulsa Heat Coalition issued a Heat Alert for Tuesday, the first time that action has been taken this year.

At the PGA Championship, fans carried umbrellas and gathered in shady areas under groups of trees. Volunteer Nancy VanDuker of Bartlesville and her husband, Frank, found one of those areas to watch play on the 12th hole.

``We were out here several years ago in 2001 for the (U.S.) Open and we walked around a lot,'' she said. ``I think we learned that if you find good holes to sit down and watch it in the shade, you probably are ahead of the game.''

She said she hated it that the pro golfers had to endure the full brunt of an Oklahoma summer. She and her husband came prepared, each drinking a bottle of water and wearing a blue short-sleeved polo shirt, shorts and a straw hat.

``I think it's just what everybody says _ drinking plenty of water, staying cool and finding shade,'' Nancy VanDuker said.

``And buying a big hat,'' her husband added.

High school football coaches said Tuesday they usually tell their players to try to adjust to being outdoors in the heat before practice starts, but the cooler-than-normal temperatures have made that more difficult this year.

``It's really been a strange summer in that this is the first time it's really been hot,'' Moore High School coach Bill Bays said. Players ``haven't had the opportunity to prepare in the heat like they would.''

Making sure players remain hydrated is a top priority, said Kenny Young, the coach at Bishop McGuinness High School in Oklahoma City.

``We're from a new generation (of coaches), when you let players have water whenever they want,'' Young said. ``I just think we're so much more aware of (proper hydration) now than we used to be. Kids don't function the way they should if they're dehydrated.''

Bays said at Moore, players are weighed before and after practice, and if a player is found to have lost too high of a percentage of weight during practice, the player is reweighed the following day to make sure the weight has been gained back.

``Otherwise, they will be held out of practice,'' Bays said. ``It's not foolproof, but it's something that makes me more confident and comfortable with our players dealing with the heat.''