High temperatures have Iredell residents seeking relief

According to many traditions, the "dog days" of summer started sometime in the past week. The term dates back to ancient Rome and has something to do with the constellation Canis Major.
But none of that really matters.
What's important right now is that it's hot outside. It's the kind of hot that Johnny Carson would think twice about before making a "how hot is it?" joke.
Well, it's too hot for the guy who wears the Dairy Queen ice cream cone suit to flag down passers by along Sullivan Road, where the new franchise recently opened.
Restaurant Manager Antwan McKelvin pulled the plug on manning up the mascot suit when he heard the temperature has heading toward triple-digits Wednesday.
"I can't have them out there when it's this hot," McKelvin said. "It's not safe."
But McKelvin wasn't necessarily complaining about the heat.
"Oh this heat is great for business," he said. "It's been mostly hot since we opened (on June 29) and it's been crazy. A lot of people feel the heat and then come inside for a nice ice cream cone."
But not everyone can get their hands on a cone.
Josh Eller is a landscape worker for Statesville's Recreation and Parks Department.
Around midday on Wednesday, Eller was toting a motorized bush hedger around the city's soccer complex in advance of an upcoming tournament.
"It can get tough out here," Eller said. "We usually try to get most of the hard work done before lunch time. After lunch we try to work on the easier stuff."
Eller said he and the rest of his crew make sure to take in plenty of fluids and get out of the sun if the heat gets to be too much.
"We drink a lot of water and Gatorade," he said. "And every once in a while we get under a shade tree."
When told it was supposed to get really hot later in the day, Justin Plummer chuckled a little.
"What do mean it's supposed to get hot?" he asked rhetorically. "It is hot."
Many people may recognize Plummer as the guy donning the A-frame sign for North Carolina Gold and Diamond Exchange at the corner of East Broad Street and Signal Hill Drive.
Plummer has been on the job for a year now. He said he has endured the most extreme weather conditions in that time and, all things considered, the intense heat is not the worst of them.
"Let's put it this way," he said, "when it's hot, you might get a cool breeze every once in while. But when it's cold, there's no such thing as a hot breeze."
Good point.
And a good breeze could be just enough to help the most vulnerable get over the heat hump.
The Iredell Council on Aging has handed out 21 fans to seniors in the past week.
"The heat is a little harder on the older folks," said Debbie Preston, with the council.
Preston said her group is not only giving out fans -- there are still three left -- but is encouraging those 60 and older who do not have air conditioning to come to the senior centers in either Statesville or Mooresville.
"We are a haven," she said. "We keep it very comfortable here. People can come and sit and just get out of the heat and relax."
Typically, the talk of high heat is accompanied by worries about the electrical grid and how the proliferation of air conditioners stresses the distribution of power.
But Statesville Electric Utility Director Larry Cranford said Statesville does not have such worries.
"For the most part, we haven't seen any real impact," Cranford said. "We may lose a transformer every now and then, but as far as being in trouble with our system capacity, that hasn't been an issue with us."
Cranford said part of the reason is the economy. He said that in the past two years there has been a reduction of up to 16 percent of electrical usage in Statesville, which has largely been caused by a cutback in commercial power.
The bottom line, Cranford said, "Is that we got enough capacity to handle this heat."
Still, Cranford advises, people should avoid being wasteful with their power consumption.
According to StatesvilleWeather.net, Wednesday's temperature reached 97.9 degrees, which passes the record high for that date of 96.8, set in 1977.
The temperature for both today and Friday is also expected to reach the mid to upper 90s.
Note: For more information about the Iredell Council on Aging, the fan give-away or the Senior Center, call the center at (704) 873-8568.