SWELTERING WEATHER BEGINNING TO TAKE TOLL

Bob Brown retired from his air-conditioning business two years ago, but returned to work in an attempt to help elderly and sick people who can't withstand the sweltering heat that has gripped the area.

"We are getting a lot more calls than usual for this time of year because the heat is so awful," said his wife, Dorothy, who schedules appointments at Brown Co. Heating and Air Conditioning. "The main reason Bob came back to work was so that we could get air to the elderly and sick people faster. It's really dangerous for them to be without air in this kind of heat."

It looks like air-conditioning repairmen will not get a break for quite some time; the National Weather Service in St. Louis is predicting temperatures around 95 degrees with above-normal humidity for the remainder of the week.

The sweltering, hazy weather that feels more like August than June won't even let up long enough for the repairmen to cool down.

"This weather is unusual because it started a lot earlier than we expected," said Todd Shea, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "This is the kind of weather we expect for late July or mid August."

Monday marked the seventh consecutive day of high-temperature readings in the mid 90s at Cape Girardeau. Overnight lows those days have been only in the lower 70s.

The haze, which is usually characteristic of late summer, is caused by stagnant airflow. "Little or no winds, high temperatures and humidity all add up to this haze we're seeing," Shea said. "With a lack of air flow, the pollutants remain in the air."

The heat wave is also keeping hospitals busy. St. Francis Medical Center has reported two cases of heat exhaustion and a number of other cases of possible heat-related illnesses in the last week.

"The best thing to do is to avoid the heat by staying indoors if possible," said Linda Brown, director of emergency services at St. Francis. "If you work outside, be sure to get plenty of fluids, but not just water; you may need to replace electrolytes with a sports drink like Gatorade."

In addition to the heat, little precipitation is a concern of area farmers. Normally, precipitation for June totals 3.72 inches; right now the area has received only .82 of an inch.

Gerald Bryan, an agronomist with the University of Missouri Extension Center at Jackson, said that if the amount of precipitation does not increase soon certain crops will be in danger.

"The hot, dry weather has had a dramatic effect on the area," Bryan said. "We've been experiencing a lot of drought-type symptoms. Irrigation started two or three weeks ago, but in some areas where it's not available they could lose the whole crop."

Although most fields in the area are begging for a few sprinkles, some have received heavy downpours that leave inches of water standing amid crops. These isolated thundershowers are typical for late summer, but not necessarily June.

"This is common for the stagnant weather pattern we are having now," Shea said. "It rains directly over where the clouds form and doesn't move because there are no winds. These places are just fortunate to get any water."

Cape Girardeau's water works is pumping a lot more water than usual.

"There is currently no concern for water curtailments, but we are pumping over 6 million gallons a day," said Thomas P. Taggart, water systems manager for Alliance Water Resources, which handles the water supply for Cape Girardeau. "That's quite a bit, considering the average for this time of year is more like 5.4 million."

Elsewhere in the state, heat warnings were issued and at least one death was blamed on the heat.

Authorities identified the victim as a 58-year-old St. Louis woman with a history of cardiac problems who died early Sunday. The woman had been taken to a hospital emergency room about midnight Saturday suffering from heatstroke, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The St. Louis City and County health departments said Monday that they were continuing a heat warning issued Sunday. They said that 11 cases of heat-related illnesses had been reported since Friday.

The heath departments issue heat warnings whenever the temperature index rises above 85. The index. based on measurements over the past 24 hours, registered an 86.4 on Monday.

Farmers have gone from worrying about too much rain in April to wondering when it will rain again, said Bob Bellinghausen, state statistician for the Missouri Agricultural Service in Columbia. The state's weekly crop report, to be released today, will give a better picture on the future for crops.

The subsoil moisture critical to corn and soybeans is still in "pretty good shape," Bellinghausen said.

"It's starting to get a little dry," he said. "The heat and humidity seems to have arrived a little bit earlier than normal this year." But he cautioned, "I don't know that we should push the panic button yet."

(Some information for this story was contributed by The Associated Press.)