Temperatures reached 90 degrees on Monday, but the snow kept falling in Wilkins -- at least in Richard Bubin's garage.
Ice shavings reminiscent of a January squall flew from the blades of Bubin's chainsaw yesterday afternoon as the professional ice carver shaped a 300-pound hunk of ice into a bald eagle for a Fourth of July party.
"It's more fun to work in the summer because I get to cool people off," said Bubin, 43, who holds the Guinness World Record for being the fastest ice carver on the planet --- 61 blocks in 4 hours, 22 minutes and 50 seconds.
Bubin had an advantage over most people working outside in yesterday's sweltering heat.
When it got too hot, he could step into his storage freezer -- kept at 5 below zero -- or take swigs of frosty lemonade from the mug he carved for himself out of ice.
Mail carrier Tony Stotts wasn't quite so lucky.
Stotts trudged up and down the sweltering Mexican War Streets in the North Side, lugging a 35-pound bag of mail.
"After 26 years of doing this, you just try to suck it up and take the good with the bad," said Stotts, 47.
The bad -- temperatures reached 90 degrees in Pittsburgh yesterday for the third consecutive day. The last time that happened was in August 2002, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Rehak.
The heat wave forced Duquesne Light crews to fan out across Allegheny and Beaver counties to replace about 100 residential transformers overloaded by the hot weather. An overheated air conditioning unit sparked a fire in the third floor of a house in the 300 block of East End Avenue, causing about $22,000 in damage, officials said.
The good -- the humidity wasn't too unbearable.
"You'll know when it's really bad when I make my humidity face," said Stotts, scrunching up his lips and squinting in mock anguish.
"I'm from South Mississippi," said Blake Brocato, 41, of Mt. Lebanon, who used his lunch break for a quick 7- or 8-mile jog around the city and answered questions as a reporter drove alongside him on the North Side. "This is a cool wave."
Chef Eben Copple, 28, also kept the heat in perspective as he loaded his furniture into a moving van from his third-floor apartment on nearby Palo Alto Street.
"In this kind of weather, the kitchen stays 120 degrees all night long, so this isn't so bad," said Copple, wiping his brow. "You leave work pretty sweaty."
Those who work without the luxury of air conditioning say it is important to drink lots of fluids, wear loose-fitting clothes and pace yourself.
"I actually like (the heat)," said construction worker Vince Begoss, 42, of Baldwin Township, as he installed planters outside University of Pittsburgh's new Biomedical Science Tower on Fifth Avenue in Oakland. "You're sweating and losing weight."
For carpenter Matt Harkness, 32, of Swissvale, the greatest reward from working in the summer sun comes at the end of the day.
"I like to go home and take a cold shower and drink a beer," Harkness said as he sought refuge under the scaffolding outside the North Side row house he is working to restore.
Yesterday's heat couldn't stop Attila Domos from conquering some of the city's toughest hills.
The bare-chested Squirrel Hill man blazed his wheelchair up the steepest section of Murray Avenue, tuning out traffic with the rock 'n' roll in his headphones, ponytail flying in his wake.
Domos, a composer whose legs were paralyzed in a fall, rides from five to 10 miles every day.
"People in the desert aren't locked in their houses," said Domos, 37. "If they can survive in 140 degrees, I can survive this."
Domos won't have to find a way survive this kind of heat for too much longer.
Today's forecast calls for highs in the upper 80s and possible thundershowers. A cold front should hit the region by Friday, bringing daytime temperatures down into the 70s.
