Christmas in July ...

[Sequoia]

as heat wave eases

NEW YORK (AP) -- As the mercury inched its way to 100, country music station WKHK in Richmond, Virginia, dusted off the Christmas carols.

And its listeners simply loved the idea of beating the heat by the power of suggestion.

"The phones just went bananas," program director Jim Tice said. "People really appreciated the cooling effect."

A cold front began bringing temperatures down early Thursday, but cooler weather seemed light years away Wednesday as the East Coast soared into the upper 90s for a fourth straight day.

The stubborn, dangerous heat wave sickened hundreds of people at the Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia, forced the Navy to cancel battleship tours and kept workers in their air-conditioned offices.

At the Jamboree, about 300 people -- most of them Boy Scouts -- fell ill while waiting for President Bush to arrive for a speech. Bush eventually postponed his visit until Thursday because of thunderstorms.

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/07/28/heat.wave.ap/index.html