Region swelters as record highs expected

There was enough Gatorade powder sitting atop Glen Nicolicchia's desk at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Tuesday to make 36 gallons of the lemon-lime concoction.

Why would anyone need that much Gatorade?

"When you think about it, it's a cheap investment just to keep everyone going," the duty manager at Horizon Airlines said. Nicolicchia is responsible for the airline's hundreds of ground workers who handle baggage and direct airplanes on the tarmac.

And in Tuesday's near-record heat, he wasn't taking any chances.

Nicolicchia has seen this week's forecast, which predicts a record-breaking and sweltering 96-degree high in Seattle today before dipping into the upper 80s on Thursday.

He anticipates using his company credit card to buy even more Gatorade to keep his staff cool and hydrated in the coming days. He also posted a bulletin for employees, warning them of the temperature spike and of would-be symptoms of heat exhaustion, such as dizziness, headaches and dry mouth.

"We can't have our employees dropping," he joked Tuesday, which saw its high of 89 fall one degree short of the record.

It's a warning to be heeded not just at Sea-Tac, but throughout Western Washington today. The National Weather Service issued excessive-heat warnings in and around the east Puget Sound-area lowlands — including Seattle, Everett, Tacoma and Bremerton — where highs are expected to be 15 to 25 degrees hotter than usual, said meteorologist Dennis D'Amico.

King County and cities are opening "cooling centers" to give people a place to cool off during the hot weather. Activity centers, senior centers and other public buildings with air-conditioning in Auburn, Bellevue, Des Moines, Issaquah, Renton and Tukwila have been identified as cooling centers.

Some more traditional cooling centers, Mix ice-cream shops in the University District and near Green Lake, have seen a significant boost since the mercury started climbing, an employee said.

"People have said, 'You're my hero.' I've heard that a couple of times," said Chris Jones, an employee at the U District location. "I serve smiles here."

For the Horizon ground crew working on acres of asphalt and concrete, it can get well over 100 degrees and ice cream isn't provided. But the 60 people working at any given time welcome the fans, iced drinks and air-conditioning when they hit the break room.

Two stories above, tourists and travelers by the thousands walked from the airport's baggage-claim area into the sunshine. Few of them considered the local weather a heat wave worth worry.

"This is beautiful weather. None of this has been hot for us yet," said Sharon Harrelson, of Houston.

She and friend Vincent Stallard, of Fort Sumner, N.M., had just spent eight days in Seattle and were preparing to fly out.

"We've just had marvelous weather," Stallard said. "It was never too hot to go out. ... This is like our early spring. It's wonderful."

He joked about friends they were visiting who, like most Seattle residents, have no air-conditioning.

"They were like, 'We're dying,' " Stallard said. "We were like, 'Who needs it in weather like this?' "

Staff reporter Brian Alexander contributed to this report.

Nancy Kelsey: nkelsey@seattletimes.com