Newspapers try not to publish stories about the weather unless the weather is truly remarkable. (Well, that's not entirely true. The reality is that we print stories about the weather all the time.)

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette
	Jeff Dauer, 21, does 80-yard sprints using a running parachute for resistance during a workout at Fridley Field of Hampton High School, where he graduated in 2004. He is now a senior running back at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Click photo for larger image. More on the story U.S. steaming from Midwest to East Coast Check the forecast for our region
	John Heller, Post-Gazette
	Frank Bartley of Coraopolis towels off as he waits for the bus yesterday along Liberty Avenue, Downtown. Click photo for larger image.

But yesterday, even though the sky was cloudy and the heat wasn't as bad as it can be in the summer, it was really, really muggy.

In fact, the dew point -- the temperature at which water vapor begins to condense -- reached 75.

"The dew point was actually as high as I've ever seen it in Pittsburgh in nearly 20 years of forecasting," said Dave Houk, a senior forecaster with AccuWeather.com in State College.

The dew point is a tricky little measurement that varies with temperature, moisture, barometric pressure and elevation.

"It usually begins to feel a little bit muggy [when the dew point is] in the low 60s," Mr. Houk said. "The middle to upper 60s is oppressive. The 70s are almost tropical-like."

Seventy-five is miserable. And it's also a health concern. A dew point of 60 and above can pose breathing problems for those with asthma.

The temperature yesterday reached 87, held down a bit by the cloud cover, but the humidity was at 62 percent, which is uncommonly high when you have a temperature in the upper 80s.

"That made it feel like it was about 97 degrees" in mid-afternoon, Mr. Houk said.

Workers stuck outdoors yesterday were trying to keep their cool and deal with the uncomfortable temperatures and humidity, but it wasn't easy.

Many construction workers scattered at various Downtown sites had to wear heavy jeans and T-shirts or cotton button-ups, attire that made it hard to keep cool during their often 10-hour workdays.

The hot weather this time of year is "just one of the things you live with," said Nick Fossum, 62, a field inspector stationed at a North Shore Connector construction site at Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street.

Forecasters say it shouldn't be any better today. They expect temperatures to reach 92 and humidity to stay high.

"The 'real feel' temperature should be up around 100 degrees," Mr. Houk said.

And it may get worse, as the National Weather Service expects August will end with a rash of days 90 degrees and hotter.

"It will probably be 2 to 6 degrees above normal for the next two weeks," Mr. Houk said. Some days, he said, could be 10 degrees above normal.

According to AccuWeather, southwestern Pennsylvania averages eight to nine 90-degree days per year. This year, we've already had 11, with today expected to make it an even dozen. But we've seen worse. The record number of 90-plus days was in 1988 when there were 38.

A real concern right now is the lack of rainfall. The state this week put 58 counties, including all of southwestern Pennsylvania, under a drought watch, calling for voluntary conservation.

"It is abnormally dry, the first stage of a drought," Mr. Houk said. But the region had rain over the weekend and there's a chance for more late this week, which "could help nip this in the bud before it gets too bad."

To keep cool during their 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. work schedule, workers in Mr. Fossum's crew drink from the many water coolers placed around the site and, occasionally, rip open pouches containing a liquid concentrate and add water to create a Gatorade-type beverage. "Really, really good," said Mr. Fossum, of Canonsburg.

The heat and humidity are no easier for food stand owners like Andrew Veneziale, 52. He runs Andrew's Hotdogs near the O'Reilly Theater at Penn and Seventh avenues, standing over a steaming roaster.

"It's been disgustingly hot,'' he said yesterday. "We pray for rain just to get relief."

Mr. Veneziale, of Avalon, said he downs bottled water and cold drinks. The heat hasn't affected business much, but it did force him to close the stand last Thursday when it became too intense.

Not everyone is complaining.

Elena Ianer, 49, a parking attendant in the lot at 10th Street and Penn Avenue, actually prefers the heat to the cold weather. She keeps a fan in her booth and tries to drink lots of water.

Originally from Bulgaria, Ms. Ianer, who now lives in Lincoln Place, said she can handle the heat because it is similar to the climate in her home country, with the exception of the humidity, of which Bulgaria has little.

"It's nature," she said. "What can you do?"