Sweating It Out : Heat Sends Angelenos to the Beach as Sizzling Palm Springs ‘Cools Off’ to 116

To postal worker Roger Killian, the fact that this desert vacation spot actually experienced a 10-degree cooling trend Saturday offered precious little comfort.

“It gets over 100 and it’s all heat,” said the 34-year veteran, who dabbed his face with a brown towel after every delivery along North Palm Canyon Road.

“I didn’t even know how hot it was yesterday,” he said, adding with a laugh: “I just see to it that the mail gets out, whether rain or sleet or snow.”

The mercury hit 116 degrees in Palm Springs on Saturday, down from the 126 registered the day before, a 68-year high. But Saturday’s reading was still higher than the normal for the year, all thanks to the third day of a heat wave that has suffocated Southern California with unusual triple-digit temperatures.

In Los Angeles, hundreds of thousands sought relief at the beaches as the temperature climbed to 100 at the Downtown Civic Center, breaking the 1972 record of 99. Temperatures reached 100 in Van Nuys and Burbank. In Riverside, the mercury climbed to 108, breaking the 1980 record of 106.

Forecasters for WeatherData Inc., which provides weather information to The Times, said today will bring only slightly cooler temperatures, ranging from the 70s at the coast to 100 inland. The inland valleys could peak at 105 to 110, they said.

With residents remaining inside and visitors staying away, the heat spelled a reversal of fortune for some Palm Springs attractions offering summer relief.

Jay L. Hazlerigg, president and general manager of the Oasis Water Resort, said the crowds were off at his park, which beckoned with its giant slide, wave pool and various water tubes. By noon, there were only 500 to 600 customers, compared to the average Saturday attendance of 1,000 to 2,400, he said.

“It’s too hot,” he said. “There are a lot of people from L.A. and the Inland Empire who come out here, but I think they’re afraid of the heat. They’re staying home.”

For one visitor, Rich Keish of Detroit, the heat was a professional plus. A product test engineer for Ford Motor Co., he said he flew out last Tuesday specifically to road test high-performance Taurus models on the mountain roads in 120-degree heat.

The good news: None of the cars have died. The bad news: That doesn’t make it any cooler.

“How can anybody be happy in 120-degree heat standing in a blacktop parking lot?” he said.

Palm Springs tourism officials were urging the other brave souls who tempted el sol to take a ride up the aerial tramway, which at its peak reaches 8,700 feet--and more importantly, dips to the mid-70s.

Attendance had been down on Friday from the normal 500 to about 300, but tramway supervisor James Whitmore said he was expecting a big day Saturday as people tried scaling new heights to escape the misery.

Short of that, Whitmore offered this bit of advice for coping with the dog days.

“Air conditioning, man. Air conditioning.”

* A HOT TIME ALL OVER: A heat wave over most of the United States broke some records. A22