Summer keeps grip on region's weather

Pleasant weather is sending area motorists to car washes, such as the Minuteman on Monroe Street, where Luke Rhodes uses a pressure washer to dislodge the bugs from a windshield.

John Zubkoff of Toledo City Landscape laid down 4,400 yards of sod just three days ago. By yesterday, even with constant watering, most of the grass was brown and dying because of consecutive days of sweltering heat.

Yesterday's high at Toledo Express Airport was 91 degrees, recorded at 3:27 p.m. At Metcalf Field, the high was 88.

Alan Reppert, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., a private forecasting firm in State College, Pa., said temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees above normal for this time of year.

"It's not record-breaking. But compared to what we have seen this summer, it is above normal," Mr. Reppert said.

The record high for today's date is 97 degrees, set in 1952. The record high for the month is 101 degrees, set Sept. 3, 1953.

Mr. Zubkoff said though it didn't set a record, the temperatures still seemed unseasonably hot for the middle of September.

"The heat has done even more damage to my plants than my lawns," he said. "The water is just soaking right through, and the sun is just burning it right up."

Sandy Adamczewski, a Toledo

Public Schools bus driver, said working in the heat yesterday was exhausting and left her with a headache.

"It's just super hot, the kids are hot, and that makes them more irritated," she said. "If I was on the bus eight hours constantly, it would be unbearable."

Mr. Reppert, said today should be more of the same. It's predicted to be mostly sunny with a high temperature of about 90 degrees. Thunderstorms late today and into tomorrow will bring the temperature down to about 81.