Keep those fans cranking and head for the river or the few air conditioned havens on campus, because temperatures will be in the 90s all weekend.
The summer's first heat wave has descended on New Hampshire, sending students scurrying to find a way to cool off, whatever the cost.
"We've had some record-breaking and near record-breaking heat," said Pat Wester of the National Weather Service in Concord.
The mercury climbed to 97 degrees in the state capital on Wednesday, breaking a previous record of 96 degrees set in 1900, Wester said. Yesterday's high of 97 degrees tied a record set in 1912.
According to Wester, the high temperatures and humidity levels are products of a high pressure area stalled over the mid-Atlantic states. He predicted the front will begin to move Sunday, and temperatures will drop to the 80s Monday and 70s by Tuesday.
With air conditioners banned by the Office of Residential Life students are doing whatever they can to avoid the extreme heat. Fans are becoming a valuable commodity.
Hanover Hardware received a shipment of 60 fans yesterday morning but they were all sold out by 2 p.m, Cindy Harlow, a store employee, said. Another shipment of fans is expected today, she added. In West Lebanon, K-Mart, Rich's and Sears are also sold out of fans.
While many students have flocked to the Connecticut River over the past few days in search of some brief heat relief, others have headed for Baker Library's air-conditioned reserve corridor.
"The reserve corridor is almost full," library assistant Helga Low said last night. "The summer is usually quiet but it looks like an exam period during winter term."
Kresge Library, Paddock Music Library and various ground floor classrooms are also air-conditioned, but students are reluctant to reveal their cool hangouts. It is a competitive world when it comes to staying cool.
Others are taking actions to make the outdoors more bearable.
Trish Bankowski '95 bought a small "kiddie pool" for her Delta Gamma sorority sisters to enjoy. Signs around the pool, which is currently on the sorority's front lawn, proclaim: "Diving prohibited in the shallow end" and "Do not pee in the pool."
Any student that has dined in College dining halls in the past few days knows they are not the places to be.
"It's horrible! I'm melting," Food Court cashier Donna Dayton said, pointing to the inadequate fans above. She said the fans are "from the 1930s" and do not cool the sweltering dining hall.
"Students are complaining. No one wants to eat in here," she said.
But Dayton admited sitting at the cash register is better than working behind the grill or in the kitchen where employee Bill Clay said temperatures reached 110 degrees.
"There are only 2 fans back there" Clay said. "I can't beleive they let people work like this."
Students taking Earth Sciences 4, meteorology, could not avoid thinking about the weather -- Thursday's lecture was about humidity.
"The worst thing is the class is not air conditioned and the professor was explaining how much moisture would be in a cubic meter in the room," Lou Spelios '95 said.
Air conditioned or not, creative, overheated students can surely find a way to beat the heat. "I'm determined to try out every flavor of Kool Aid," Linda Albers '95 said. "I'm on Purplesaurus-Rex now."
