Heat Wave News Roundup

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 21, 2011 7:00PM

Bet scenes like the one captured by Josh Koonce are popping up all over the city.

Yes we know it's hot outside, and D.H. Lawrence (or was it Sammy Hagar?) once wrote "what is understood doesn't need to be discussed." Yet with the city baking under 97 degree heat and a triple-digit heat index, discuss it we must.

• As of 1 p.m., the official temperature is 96.1 degrees (Skilling goes exact) with a heat index of 109.4. [Tribune]
• The heat is causing some equipment failures with ComEd. 3,700 customers are without power, a normal figure. [Chicago Breaking News]
• It's unknown if the heat is affecting switching problems on the Red Line at Howard, but be flexible in your travels if you're taking it, still. [CTA Alert]
• Opening fire hydrants in this weather is a Chicago rite of passage, but it costs. [Chicago News Cooperative]
• The Sun-Times penned an editorial advising us to remember 1995. [Sun-Times]
• An Illinois boy attending a summer camp in southwestern Michigan drowned in an attempt to beat the heat. [Chicago Breaking News]
• Park Hyatt employees staged a one-day strike yesterday. Hyatt turned the heat lamps on them. [WBEZ]
• Fox NEws Chicago's Bob Sirott put the old adage "it's so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk" to the test. [Fox News Chicago]