Sweatin like it s 1980: The heat is on
Sports reporter
The 1980s made a comeback this past week, more unwanted than a new Boy George album.
As of July 19 of this year, 1980 accounted for 15 of the month's 31 record highs in nearby Wichita. But the largest city in the state wasn't the only one hit by the heat wave. In fact, Kansas wasn't the only state hit either.
From Nebraska, down to Texas, and over to Virginia, estimates of heat-related deaths were as high as 10,000 for the year. It cost the U.S. nearly $44 million (1998 figure) in agricultural damages.
Dallas was one of the worst cities hit, with the thermometer reading 100 or above for 69 straight days between June 23 and Sept. 6.
The heat was felt by nearly everyone in Marion as well, but that wasn't the only concern.
"The main thing I remember was it just being dry," Central National Bank vice president/loan officer Greg Bowers said.
Bowers, who had just started farming at the time, remembered crops weren't fairing too well in the dry conditions.
He also remembered employees at the bank (then Farmers and Drovers) sweating like his hogs for two or three days when the air conditioner went out.
"You couldn't get any work done," he said. "You would lift up your arm off the desk and paper would stick to it."
A refuge
Twenty-seven years later memories of 1980 are resurfacing with 100-plus degree days this past week in the county.
Some cities reported temperatures as high as 110 degrees.
Marion City Pool manager Deanna Thierolf noticed residents trying to combat the heat with a dip in the pool.
"We've had a really good turnout," she said. "More people are coming during the heat."
Thierolf said most of the swimmers have been non-members, possibly trying to find an alternative from air-conditioners unable to keep up with the heat.
After just two-and-a-half hours Thursday, Thierolf said more than 100 people had come to swim. The staff is doing what it can to keep swimmers happy.
"We are trying to keep fresh water in," she said. "We have a hose running to keep the cold water coming."
The pool can be a savior for many, but those without time for a swim must wait it out until fall.
Heat for two
Joanna Schwartz is feeling the heat like everyone else, but she's feeling it for someone else as well.
Almost eight months pregnant, Schwartz is waiting for the Sept. 5 due date of her first child.
"I'm hoping it's earlier," she said.
Schwartz works full-time at Brenda's Bloomers and Gifts of Marion. She's mostly inside, but does head outside at times to deliver flowers.
"I haven't been doing it as much lately because of the heat," she said.
Schwartz wasn't alive in 1980, but she doesn't need to know the facts of nearly three decades ago to know it's hot now.
"I try to stay inside," she said.
Although bothered at times by the heat, she said the summer she had in Oklahoma last year was hot as well.
"It seems about the same," she said. "But the humidity here is really bad."
Not to be forgotten
Although temperatures have cooled off into the 80s the past few days, everyone who lives in Kansas knows the heat can come back in a flash.
And it has.
Temperatures have risen back into the 90s and should stay between 95 and 100 the rest of the week.
While it can sometimes be fun to think back to the past, memories of the summer of 1980 aren't pleasant, but certainly not forgotten.
"You bet I remember," Shelly Regier, said. "I had the pregnancy from hell."
Regier was living in Wichita at the time, and remembers her car breaking down a mile from town. Eight months pregnant she had to walk back to town to find a phone.
"I remember a lot of cars on the side of the road then," she said.
Regier said she remembers 1980 mainly because she was pregnant, but also the fact her air conditioner went out in July, and she spent most of the time in the bedroom that had a window unit. The also summer broke a lot of records from a similar heat wave in 1954, the year she was born.
"My mom remembers that well," she said.
This past week wasn't as bad for the Western Associates employee because she wasn't dealing with a pregnancy, or a broken air conditioner, but she still felt the heat like everyone else.
"It was right up there [with 1980] because it would take your breath away when you walked outside," Regier said. "And that's what I remember from 1980, you couldn't breathe."
