WEST LEBANON — Upper Valley residents tried to beat a mini-heat wave on Monday at swimming holes or through air conditioning, but with the temperatures stuck in the 80s and 90s for a few days, farmers were keeping an eye on the dry weather.
The thermometer hit 91 degrees in West Lebanon in the afternoon, and the Newbury (Vt.) Village Store announced on Facebook that it would not be serving pizza until Wednesday afternoon when temperatures are supposed to cool, going down into the 70s for the remainder of the week.
“We apologize for the inconvenience but we can’t ask our staff to stand beside a 550-degree oven without risking their health and safety,” the post said.
Manchester schools were closed for the day and an early release was scheduled for Tuesday due to the heat. Several communities in the Twin States, including Burlington and Concord, set temperature records with highs in the mid-90s on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
While swimming holes and ice cream stands were open on Monday, several of the places usually available to Upper Valley residents to go to cool off in the summer were either unavailable due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions or had not yet opened for the season. In the meantime, the region’s farmers continue to navigate moderate drought conditions.
The heat wave hit about a week before some area pools were ready. Storrs Pond Pool in Hanover is slated to open on Saturday, for members only and reservations are required, and the Lebanon Veterans Memorial Pool is scheduled to open on Monday.
Lebanon libraries, which usually serve as cooling areas for the city during heat waves, remain closed, said Lebanon Fire Chief Chris Christopoulos. As of Monday morning, he said city officials did not plan to open alternative cooling shelters.
“We are monitoring the heat and based on the current forecast it seems that the humidity levels are going to be relatively low,” he said.
The Upper Valley Haven, which a few years ago opened a cooling station on a particularly hot weekend, also remains closed due to the pandemic, said Michael Redman, the Haven’s executive director. In addition, the space the organization used the last time it served as a shelter is now being used to hold inventory for its outdoor food shelf, he said.
“It looks like this heat wave is brief, fortunately,” Redman said.
But, he added, “There will be longer periods of extreme heat later this summer and in the future. We hope to expand our space again so that we can provide this service.”
The Upper Valley Senior Center in Lebanon remains closed for indoor activities, but is open for grab-and-go meals in its parking lot on Mondays and Wednesdays, and home-delivered meals are available on Thursdays, said Jill Vahey, the facility’s director.
“We provide wellness calls every day to check in on people,” she said via email
The Thompson Senior Center in Woodstock canceled a walking group on Monday, but did invite people in to the air-conditioned center for lunch.
“Please let us know if you need a place to cool down,” the Thompson’s Facebook page said. The center’s staff included cooling and heat warning notices along with meals and bottled water on Monday, said Deanna Jones, the center’s director. Staff also called people to check in on them, she said.
People who work or exercise outdoors, and older adults and young children should be sure to stay cool and hydrated in hot weather, according to a Vermont Department of Health news release. People who have a chronic medical condition, are overweight, are taking certain medications or are using drugs or alcohol, should also take extra care,.
Muscle cramps, heavy sweating, nausea, headache or light-headedness are symptoms of heat-related illness, according to the health department. Most can be treated with fluids and by resting in a cooler place.
Health officials advise that people avoid leaving people or pets in parked vehicles; drink water or other non-alcoholic and decaffeinated beverages; wear lightweight, light-colored clothing; take breaks in air-conditioned or shady places; limit outdoor activities during the hottest part of the day; close window shades during the day; and check on neighbors living alone and without air conditioning.
In addition to creating a potential health hazard, the heat may exacerbate moderate drought conditions that exist across much of the Upper Valley.
“This drought actually started last year,” said George Hamilton, a University of New Hampshire fruit and vegetable field specialist. “It is a continuation of the dryness that we had last year.”
He said the heat combined with wind “sucks water out of the plant.”
He advises farmers to use flowing water such as streams to irrigate their crops before they turn to storage ponds that they might need as the season continues.
Pooh Sprague, of Edgewater Farm in Plainfield, said the drought makes it difficult to get sufficient water to his farm’s small fruit and vegetable plants. Though, like many farmers, he has overhead and drip irrigation, it’s expensive to use it, he said.
He estimated that having to irrigate crops makes the farm somewhere between 35% to 45% less efficient than it would be were there sufficient rain.
“It’s very discouraging,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s a lot of extra work for everybody.”
Water is especially critical for his farm right now as strawberries are starting to fruit and new plants are just setting roots.
Still, Sprague said it’s early in the season. His farm got eight-tenths of an inch of rain in a thunderstorm last week, which he called “a little bit of a gift.”
This early, he said it’s hard to know how yields will turn out.
“We could be two weeks away from major flooding,” he said. “I’m hoping that we get a few more thunderstorm gifts.”
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
