Heat’s Still On, but Not for Long

From sweating yuppies splashing themselves with Perrier to redoubled hose-downs for overheated zoo elephants, Southern Californians coped with a second-straight day of sweltering weather more bothersome than dangerous.

“It’s hot out there, but it’s not causing any major problems,” said Jim Wells, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman.

Department of Water and Power officials said there were no outages as a result of heavy air-conditioner usage on Wednesday, and a county coroner’s spokesman said there had been no reported heat-related deaths.

Some tourists from cooler climates said they were unfazed by the 101-degree temperatures reported at the Los Angeles Civic Center, which fell short of the 108-degree record high set in 1955.

“This is nothing. We were in Death Valley yesterday and it was 117,” said Wolfgang Leber, a tourist from Munich, West Germany, who was sightseeing near City Hall.

At the beaches, where temperatures were in the low 70s, lifeguards reported thousands of swimmers and an unusually low number of rescues.

“We have about 40,000 to 60,000 people here today,” said a South Bay beaches lifeguard, while Zuma Beach reported 20,000 beachgoers.

During rush-hour traffic, motorists without air conditioning were seen hanging their heads out car windows, and one young driver wearing a suit cooled himself with the spray from a shaken bottle of Perrier mineral water capped with his thumb.

Extra water was the rule of the day for animals at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Bad Day for Them

“They’re having a hard time,” said Lorri Cohen, a zoo spokeswoman. “We’re hosing down the elephants four to five times a day, when once or twice is the norm.”

The zoo’s World of Birds performing bird show has been canceled for the last two days due to the heat, she said.

“It was a 120 degrees on the stage at 11 a.m.,” Cohen said. “And that’s just too hot.”

Tigers spent most of the day swimming. Reptiles, which eat abnormal amounts of food to cool down, were anxiously awaiting extra portions, and polar bears were heading for the cooling moats.

Smog to Boot

Smog added to the misery outdoors, prompting stage-one pollution alerts for Burbank, Azusa and Pasadena. Other alerts were possible before nightfall, said Milt Kohut, Air Quality Management District spokesman.

Temperatures were expected to drop a few degrees today and take a nose dive over the weekend, National Weather Service meteorologist George McKillop said.

“The hot, humid weather has been caused by a tropical storm off the Baja California coast compounded by a change in wind patterns which has drawn hot desert air into the area,” McKillop said. “That should begin changing” today.