Friday, May 24, 1996

Go Ahead And Wear White. Summer's Arrived In Texas By MARK BABINECK
Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK - Lately, the Panhandle has felt like the other end of the skillet.

"We kind of skipped spring this year," Lubbock-based National Weather Service meteorologist Jody James said Thursday.

If you can't stand the heat in Big Spring, get out of the courthouse. Renovations have knocked out the air conditioning there until next week, forcing the county to shut the building down at noon each day.

"In the mornings, our office is really cool," said Donna Wright, who works in the Howard County clerk's office at the courthouse. "In the afternoon the wind stops blowing and the sun starts beating in. They said it was 95 on Wednesday, but it was a lot hotter inside."

A Pacific Ocean phenomenon in which the water there is unusually cool is believed to be the culprit of a devastating Texas drought, but the intense heat is more of a mystery.

"We can't say conclusively," James said. "With the humidities as low as we've had, it's been a lot easier to warm up this dry air."

Even tropical Houston has reached record highs five times this month, but the mercury is most active in West Texas.

Lubbock has tied or broken 10 high temperature records this month, with Amarillo close behind at nine. The 105-degree temperature in Lubbock Wednesday tied a record that dated all the way back to Sunday for the hottest May reading ever.

Last Thursday's reading of 107 wasn't unusual in the Big Bend, but for Childress is was quite an event. Located at the southeastern corner of the Panhandle, it shared top honors for the nation's hot spot.

"We're about to die," said Renee Laminack, who with her husband owns the Sun N' Fun Swim Club in southwest Lubbock. "We haven't opened yet, and we've got downed equipment everywhere. The heat creates a tremendous problem as far as stress on equipment."

Ms. Laminack says she wishes she'd opened up for business two weeks ago, when this already dry region began taking on the feel of a blast furnace with triple-digit temperatures.

Pools here traditionally open on Memorial Day weekend, she said. The water has been warm enough for swimming all month, however, as the area prepared Thursday to tie or break its 11th daily high temperature record.

Temperatures are expected to become more seasonable next week, and James said the dry effects of the "La Nina" Pacific system could ease up by the end of the summer.

Forecasters expect some minor cooling this weekend for West Texas, as well as a chance of a rare shower.

"We still have a chance of thunderstorms for Saturday and Sunday," James said. "But with this weather pattern, I wouldn't want to hold my breath."