FAYETTEVILLE -- Prize ribbons fluttered from pens under the constant drone of dozens of fans as Savannah Perkins poured water onto a hog at least twice her size lying in the hay at her feet.
Over and over again she filled a small energy drink bottle from a green bucket, meticulously pouring it down the tired hog's back. Hogs can't sweat, and as temperatures Wednesday afternoon passed 90 degrees, the animals' handlers at the Washington County Fair kept up a continuous relay of water to keep them cool.
At A Glance
Weather Forecast
• Today: High about 92 with sunny conditions. A slight chance of showers after midnight.
• Friday: High falls to about 87. Chances for showers about 40 percent through the day, increasing to about a 60 percent chance in the evening.
• Saturday: High about 85, with a 60 percent chance of storms in the morning. Showers are possible but less likely in the evening.
Source: National Weather Service
"If they get too hot or something, they could die," Savannah, 7, said as she finally emptied the bucket over the hog.
Her job should get easier as the week goes on. The National Weather Service expects the near-record heat that started the week will fall back to normal temperatures by fair's end Saturday.
An area of high pressure settled over the area last weekend, letting in sunshine and heat that brushed against 100 degrees, meteorologist Karen Hatfield said from the service's Tulsa, Okla., office. Temperatures Monday reached 98, one degree shy of the record.
Another pressure system is headed in from the Rockies, however, pushing the high pressure to the east, Hatfield said. The service Wednesday said highs this week should fall from each day to the next, going from a mid-week 92 to the mid-80s by Saturday.
Even diminished, the heat was a challenge in the fair's livestock arena, most of all for hogs. Yard-wide fans blasted corkscrew streams of mist down onto anxious animals in the afternoon. Owners carried half-gallon bottles, spraying snouts, backs and mouths. The metal roof even had its own sprinkler to cool it off.
"Just take care of them like they're your babies," said Heather Hankins of Elkins, whose son was competing. Kids prodded and jostled their hogs in or out of pens around her as she sprayed a half-dozen animals. It's an all-day job, she said.
Few people ventured outside the barns for long. The sun beat down as two dozen people clustered under the shade of the Ozark Cattlemen's Association concession stand.
"It's just that time of year," Benny West said with a laugh as smoke drifted from the brisket smoker he kept watch over. "It's always hot."
The fall in temperatures will bring a chance for thunderstorms with it. Rain chances will be about 50 percent for Friday into Saturday, Hatfield said. The fair will be open until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights.
"Those are our big days, so we're hoping that, if it is going to rain, it's going to in the late evening and night," said Kim Sullivan, an 18-year volunteer with the fair.
Sullivan said she was optimistic. Even Tuesday's heat weakened enough by 5 p.m. for the carnival side of the fair to fill up. Thousands of people turned out for the year's first cotton candy and funnel cake. Rides spun as the sunset lit up piling clouds in the western sky.
No matter the heat, kids Wednesday afternoon continued washing, brushing, cleaning and trimming livestock. In the cattle barn, Thomas McCutcheon, 15, carefully put the final touches on his black cow's fur as his mother, Missy Clark, stood nearby in the barn's shade.
"It's bad, but I think it could be a lot worse," Clark, who came to the fair from Winslow, said with a laugh. "We're looking forward to tomorrow."
NW News on 08/28/2014