The Nation - News from Aug. 19, 1988

Southern heat offered anything but comfort to residents as North Carolina jailers doled out fans and juice to prisoners and the Missouri government bought air conditioners for the needy. The National Weather Service said New Englanders enjoyed 60-, 70- and 80-degree temperatures, but their Southern counterparts sweltered through heat that stagnated from the southern Ohio Valley to the Carolinas, where the mercury bubbled over the century mark. The heat wave that has hung over the East in past weeks was a distant memory, with New York City reporting a high temperature of 82 degrees; Boston, 78; Cleveland, 81; Detroit, 74; Milwaukee, 75; Minneapolis, 71, Burlington, Vt., 68; and Duluth, Minn., a cool 66. By contrast, 22 records were set, mainly to the South. They included 105 degrees in Raleigh, N.C., 103 in Paducah, Ky., 102 in Greensboro, N.C., 101 in Bristol, Tenn., Charlotte, N.C., and Spartanburg, S.C, and 100 in Lynchburg, Va., and Sheridan, Wyo.