Amid heat advisory, people seek ways to keep the mercury down

Joseph Kohut, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read

Jul. 27—NORTH ABINGTON TWP. — The sun beat on the dusty parking lot of Manning Farm Dairy. The barnyard smell stuck to the back of the throat.

Jim Gilgallon didn't sweat it. Neither the stink of manure nor Thursday's oppressive heat could beat the sweet chill of a chocolate milkshake.

In fact, the heat index — which neared 100 degrees with the humidity — was the point of the excursion.

"That's why we're here," the 76-year-old Olyphant man said with a smile as his wife climbed in the car with two milkshakes.

Throughout the region Thursday, people did what they could to keep cool amid some of the summer's hottest weather yet.

The National Weather Service placed Lackawanna and Luzerne counties under a heat advisory until 8 p.m. Friday, the first such advisory of the season for the Scranton area.

Urban areas were forecasted to experience a heat index as high as 102 degrees.

Thursday — with highs in the upper 80s — was just the warmup, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tom Kines said. Friday's temperatures will reach into the 90s but the heat index will feel around 100.

The hottest day of the year so far remains June 2 — when temperatures reached 95 degrees. Friday may make a challenge for the title.

The weather service warned people to drink water, stay out of the sun and take advantage of that most blessed of inventions — the air-conditioner.

"Stay hydrated, that's number one," NWS meteorologist Kaitlyn Lardeo said.

Those out-and-about Thursday heeded that advice.

Brothers Mark and Matthew Custer, 20 and 22 respectively, went for a morning walk in Nay Aug Park, before the hottest part of the day. They planned to stay indoors and near the air-conditioner for the rest of the day.

Air conditioning was on Mark Mondak's mind, too. As he waited for his ex-wife to finish an appointment at the hospital, he stopped in at local stores to soak in the climate-controlled interiors. Mondak, 66, would soon return home to Hallstead, where he said he planned on a more relaxing strategy: crack open a cold beer and take a dip in a pond near his house.

The heat is expected to break Saturday, Kines said. However, that means people in the region should anticipate thunderstorms, downpours and, potentially, damaging winds.

Sunday should be much cooler and more comfortable, with a high around 80. That pattern is expected to continue into next week, Kines said.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.