Calvin Wilson of Timothy J Wilson Construction works on an exterior home repair project Tuesday morning in Lima.
Craig Kelly | The Lima News
LIMA — Last week’s moderate temperatures may have given the region a taste of autumn, but summer has come back with a vengeance this week to remind everyone that it is not going anywhere just yet.
Mild weather dominated the region last week, with high temperatures peaking in the 70s and lows dipping into the 40s. That all changed this week as high temperatures rose into the 80s over the weekend and are currently in the 90s. Tuesday’s high temperature climbed to 93, according to AccuWeather, with the heat index reaching triple digits.
A Facebook post from Allen County Public Health said that Tuesday’s temperatures would be the high point of the week as the region remained under an excessive heat advisory. A fact sheet on the agency’s website features multiple suggestions for how to best deal with excessive heat, including staying indoors as much as possible, possibly in public buildings like libraries, theaters and schools, drinking plenty of water and limiting alcohol consumption.
The Putnam County Health Department said that while there were no heat-related incidents in the county Tuesday, residents needed to continue to be mindful of the high temperatures, especially when it comes to more vulnerable populations like the elderly.
The Auglaize County Health Department also issued an alert on Facebook pointing out possible warning signs of heat exhaustion, including dizziness, thirst, nausea and weakness.
The heat even forced some schools to release students early Tuesday. In Delphos, students at Franklin Elementary as well as Jefferson Middle and High schools were released at 1:30 p.m. due to heat concerns, with preschool students dismissed at 12:30 p.m. In Shawnee, students in the middle and high schools were released at 12:53 p.m. Tuesday, with students at Elmwood and Maplewood schools released at 2 p.m.
“It is all about the age of the building,” Shawnee Superintendent Don Diglia said. “This is, I believe, 1927 construction, and they’re brick walls and they’re very thick, so we’ve got difficulty in cooling the building.”
This is not the first time those schools have had to deal with excessive heat issues, as the building does not have centralized air conditioning. Diglia credits both students and staff with being flexible in how they have addressed this issue, from working in different areas where it may be cooler to switching up classrooms if one is a little cooler. Staff even come in the night before school to crack open windows and run fans to try to circulate some cooler air in the building and reduce humidity levels.
“As soon as the kids come in, they bring a lot of heat, you know, with their body heat, so when you put 25 or 35 kids in a classroom where you don’t have adequate ventilation, it can heat up pretty quick,” Diglia said.
Diglia also pointed out that this issue goes beyond what happens within the walls of the school. Outdoor activities are also affected, he said, pointing to a middle school football game originally scheduled for Tuesday having to be moved to Saturday.
“Our practices will be limited, especially for football,” he said. “[Practice will be] without pads, just with helmets, and we’re trying to do whatever we can inside.”
As for how the school will handle the heat predicted for the rest of the week, Diglia said they will take it a day at a time, but the district’s goal is to always give parents advance notice the night before to allow them to make contingency plans in case of work.
“We don’t want children going home to an empty house without the parents knowing,” he said.
While students affected by heat may have the possibility of early release, people with jobs that involve outdoor labor do not always have that option. Tim Wilson, owner of Timothy J Wilson Construction in Spencerville, was on a job site with his employees Tuesday performing exterior home repairs on a Lima residence. He said that working in the heat is nothing new for his crew as this summer has stayed very warm, but they still remain mindful of the risks of working in the heat.
“We try to start a bit earlier to try to beat some of the heat,” he said. “We keep a whole cooler full of ice water, and when it gets too warm, we take a little break under a shade tree.”
Wilson said he is very lenient when it comes to his workers taking time to rehydrate and catch their breath on extremely hot days, but in all of it, they also have to keep in mind their commitment to the customer and completing their work well and in a timely manner.
“It’s just part of the job,” he said. “It’s no different than in wintertime when it’s really cold out and you have to make that decision whether you want to go or not.”
For now, the heat does not appear to be going anywhere as temperatures in Lima are expected to rise to 92 degrees Wednesday. However, there is the potential for a heavy thunderstorm in the afternoon, according to AccuWeather. The latest weather information can be found at http://www.limaohio.com/weather.
