Summer turns corner into Sultry Lane.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

Anthony Holding's blue and yellow Burley bicycle trailer contained everything he needed for a hot summer day: beach towels, water bottles and a hand-pumped mister.

Holding stopped at the Eugene Water & Electric Board courtyard fountain for a breather Sunday afternoon during an 18-mile bike trip with his girlfriend, Joshlyn Childers, 15, and her two sisters: Hannah Childers, 13, and Mickayla Childers, 10, all of Springfield.

"This is the best place to stop and take a dip," said Holding, 17.

The EWEB fountain and the Willamette and McKenzie rivers were popular sites to beat the heat on the hottest day of the year to date.

The National Weather Service reported Sunday's high was 94.

Holding and the Childers sisters came prepared.

Beneath their T-shirts, bike shorts and Capri pants, they sported swimming suits.

"The water's not gross (like the Willamette River)," said Joshlyn Childers of the popular fountain.

Megan Tvedt, 24, of Eugene, agreed.

"You never know if you'll step on glass or a fishing line in the river," said Tvedt, a University of Oregon chemistry and mathematics student.

The year's first blast of really hot weather is caused by a thermal induced low-pressure trough moving up the Pacific Coast from California, coupled with a high-pressure system off the coast, said Tiffani Brown, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Portland.

"Monday's high is expected to be 93, and up to 95 is possible," she said. That's still several degrees shy of the record high for the date, 100 degrees in 1956.

The mid-90 degree weather is expected to be short-lived.

Beginning Tuesday an on-shore flow of air from the ocean will bring temperatures back to normal - into the mid-80s through the remainder of the week, Brown said.

"It will be pretty nice weather with no clouds. They'll be real good days to be outside," she said.

The warmer weather increases water consumption as homeowners water lawns and wash cars, said Eugene Water & Electric Board spokesman John Mitchell.

On Thursday and Friday of last week about 44 million gallons of water were used. Saturday's tally was 47.5 million gallons, Mitchell said.

That is well below the peak capacity of 76 million gallons and well below the record of 72 million gallons set in July 1998 when a hot spell that lasted two weeks pushed consumption up, Mitchell said.

"When it gets into the 90s, that's when we see some serious peak usage as people water their lawns and gardens and fill wading pools. It takes hotter, more sustained heat, a week of 90 to 100 degree temperatures, to get us up into the 60-million gallon usage," he said.

During the summer months, EWEB is encouraging customers to use water wisely.

"If you're going to water the lawn, do it in the morning, not in the middle of the day when it evaporates more rapidly," Mitchell said.

Across the river from the EWEB fountain on Sunday, University of Oregon students Chris Huiard, Christian Scritsmier and Christina Early, along with Christine Duffy, a student at the University of Southern California, launched a flotilla of inflatable rafts and an inner tube.

The scorching heat was welcomed by the group, who planned a leisurely stroll later down the river to the Valley River Center.

"You have to be patient in Eugene, (summer) always comes," Early said.

CAPTION(S):

Joshlyn Childers, 15, rides her bicycle through the Eugene Water & Electric Board courtyard fountain on Sunday during an 18-mile bike trip. Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard Christine Duffy (from left) Chris Huiard, Christina Early and Christian Scritsmier launch inflatable rafts and an inner tube along the Willamette River on Sunday.