Published: July 18, 2006 08:23 pm      

Sizzling: Mercury hits 90 degrees

BLUEFIELD — Residents of Nature’s Air Conditioned City sizzled Tuesday as the temperature peaked at a sweltering 90 degrees. And Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce officials invite you to quench your thirst today.

“There’s nothing better than a glass of ice cold lemonade on hot summer days, so we’re excited to be serving it,” Lisa Huff, vice chair of special projects, GBCC, said.

Huff said Kwik Kafe provided the lemonade which will be pouring today from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at five locations in the two Bluefields.

Residents are all invited to drink lemonade at Chicory Square, Graham Square, Kroger on Cumberland Road, Wal-Mart, in Bluefield, Va., and Goodykoontz.

“It’s absolutely free! Come join our Comcast Mountain Festival Queen, Megan Godfrey, and youth leadership graduates, who will be serving lemonade at all locations throughout the day,” Huff said.

The National Weather Service’s reports call for another scorcher today with highs in the upper 80’s — making it the perfect day for a glass of lemonade.

The temperature has come very close to the 90-degree mark over the last few days, which Deb Griffith, vice president of marketing, Princeton Community Hospital, said is causing some residents to really feel the heat.

“We did have one patient admitted due to heat exhaustion on Monday,” Griffith said.

Griffith said several residents became ill due to the heat index, which combines air temperature and relative humidity to determine an apparent temperature of how hot it actually feels.

“Over the past couple of days, we’ve had about 15 admissions due to Asthma-related conditions where the humidity is so heavy and close, people feel as though they cant breath,” she said.

“The heat and humidity seems to be exasperating those medical conditions,” Griffith said.

— Contact Adria Hairston at ahairston@bdtonline.com