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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Heat forces restrictions on burning 7/12/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, July 12, 2007 How hot was it? Plenty hot By Lukas Velush, Herald Writer A piece of Aaron Lee's finest gourmet milk chocolate melted into a puddle in less than five minutes Wednesday in sweltering heat that nearly broke the region's all-time high-temperature record. Inside Alderwood mall, it was a different story. "You want to keep the chocolate from melting," Lee said from the comfort of his Godiva Chocolate shop, where it was a chilly 62 degrees. Outside in the parking lot it was 93 degrees. The mall's coolness drew a sigh of relief from many of those who walked in to the mall's 73-degree artificial paradise. Leaving the mall, the effect was the opposite. "It's balmy," said Michelle Rising of Snohomish. "Coming out, you totally feel it." The thermometer hit 98 degrees at Seattle Tacoma International Airport Wednesday, a new all-time high for the day and just two degrees off the all-time high - a whopping 100 degrees set on July 20, 1994. "It's a bona fide heat wave," said Dennis D'Amico, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Records fell all over Western Washington, including in Shelton, which hit 100 degrees, and Olympia, which reached 99. Bellingham tied an all-time high with 94 degrees. Everett has no official temperature records, but a thermometer at Paine Field hit 90, D'Amico said. Up north, at Arlington Airport, it got even hotter, hitting 93 degrees. In a completely unscientific exercise, a handful of Herald reporters used $1 thermometers to see what was cooking throughout the county. In short: It was hot. And it got even hotter as you moved inland, away from the water's cooling breeze. How hot? At Lake Tye Park in Monroe, screeching kids kept cool in 96-degree heat by pulling up seaweed and lobbing it at each other. More than 100 people poured into the park to escape the heat. "They were begging me to come over here," said Sue Ruiz of Gold Bar, who brought her children, Sam, 11 and Lilli, 8, to the lake. "It's really fun," Sam said. "The water is really warm." Family friend Teresa Allen-Martin of Monroe was trying to keep cool nearby. "I try to enjoy it because it gets me through all the gloomy days in winter," she said. Three of her kids were with her at the park. In Lake Stevens, which topped out at 94 degrees, people also sought comfort from the water. A small beach at Lundeen Park at the north end of the lake was wall-to-wall people by 2 p.m. "I haven't been able to watch my kids," said Lake Stevens resident Rhonda Call, who brought four of her seven children to the park. "This is the most crowded I have ever seen this beach." It was hard to find a place to park all around the lake. At North Cove, friends Aaron Llewellyn, 34, and Matt Coletti, 24, of Everett, floated in the water on small rubber rafts. They researched where they would go on the predicted hot day and bought the rafts two days ago, they said. "It's amazing what you can get for $12.99," Llewellyn said. Gina Grondahl of Lake Stevens, taking the day off, was undaunted by the heat at first. She settled in the sun at North Cove Park. "I love it, we finally have warm weather," she said. After 20 minutes of baking she was ready for a dip. "I'm actually dying right now," she said. Around 4 p.m., it got too hot for and her kids, so they decided to go back to their home, which doesn't have air conditioning. "Isn't that bad and stupid?" she said. But she had a plan. "We're going to go clean up and play in the sprinklers," Call said. The line to get into the swimming pool at McCollum Park near Mill Creek was long, but the would-be swimmers were undaunted. "Lets just say we're warm," said Julie McDonnell of Mill Creek. "That's why we're going swimming." She was waiting with her twin 7-year-olds. Angela said she likes root beer, and Michelle swimming. With her hand shielding her face, Mom predicted the day's temperature was only the start of a toasty summer. "I hate to tell you, but it'll get hotter than it is now," McDonnell said. Back at Alderwood mall, Carol Soniat relaxed in an armchair finishing an ice coffee. She said she planned to burn up at least four hours between the mall and a movie. She was going to either see "Harry Potter" or "Pirates of the Caribbean." "It's better than getting too sick or overheated," said Soniat, of Lynnwood. "It's too hot to be home, especially without air conditioning." Herald writers Jeff Switzer, Bill Sheets, Yoshiaki Nohara and Justin Arnold contributed to this report Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.

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