Seattle breaks another heat record Sunday

At Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the cooks turned the soup kitchen into a salad-and-sandwich kitchen as the temperature broke a 43-year record in the region.

"People were very, very happy to see no soup" on the menu, said Randy Pierce, who called himself head cook and bottle washer at the day center for homeless men in Seattle's Central Area.

It was hot at the center Sunday as temperatures hit the mid-90s, with only fans to cool the place down. The crowd during the weekend varied between 35 and 100 men, mostly African-American. Our Lady has been serving the area since 1986.

The center is looking for donations of bottled water or juice, Pierce said. It also needs men's clothing, preferably shorts and shirts for 90-degree weather.

Sunday, the temperature hit 96 at 3:35 p.m. at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the 1967 record of 92 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. A day earlier, the temperature hit 95 degrees, breaking a two-year record.

An excessive heat warning remains in effect through 10 p.m. Monday, with daytime temperatures expected to stay above 90. The weather service issued the warning with the expectation that heat illnesses are likely and to encourage people to take precautions, such as drinking water and juice, and to check on elderly relatives and neighbors.

Sara Kinney, a respite monitor at Seattle's Saint Martin de Porres shelter, said people had been donating bottled water and fresh fruit.

"We've had an amazing amount of community outreach, people dropping off bottled water," Kinney said. The shelter has 212 mats each night for men over 50 looking for a place to sleep.

"It's going to be hot during the day, and most places at night the temperatures aren't going to be low enough to let our bodies cool off properly," said Johnny Burg, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Record highs also were set Sunday in Olympia and Bellingham while the Washington Coast began cooling off, the service said.

While it will still be hot Monday, Burg does not expect to break the record of 98 degrees set in 1967.

He said he expects the daytime high to drop below 80 Wednesday.

But before the heat wave breaks, air pollution Monday in the Cascade foothills of King and Pierce counties is expected to stay at levels considered unhealthful for people sensitive to such pollution, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency says on its website.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com