If your address ends in an odd number, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, water your lawns, flowers and vegetables on calendar days ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. If your address ends with an even number, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, water on calendar days ending in 2, 4, 6, 8, 0. Daily watering of freshly laid sod is fine. Discontinue hosing down driveways. Wash your car on the calendar day reserved for your address, but use a bucket instead of a constantly running hose. It's OK to rinse the car clean with a hose. Shut off decorative fountains that do not recycle water. Fountains such as the one at Heartland of America Park use recycled water and do not need to be shut down. Refrain from filling large private swimming pools. Filling backyard pools for toddlers is fine. Cities that buy water from M.U.D. are asked to curtail sewer flushing, lake filling, firefighting drills, street washing and other nonessential uses of water. M.U.D. serves 175,000 customers in Omaha, Bellevue, Bennington, Elkhorn, Ralston, La Vista, Carter Lake, Waterloo and Fort Calhoun. In Papillion, residents should refrain from lawn-watering this weekend. Watering is also banned from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and anytime on Mondays. Otherwise, Papillion residents should follow this watering schedule: Even-numbered addresses should water Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; odd-numbered addresses on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

6.30.02 Weather is largely the tale of the century by Julia McCord, Omaha World-Herald The sun was merciless Saturday in Nebraska and western Iowa. Temperatures were well into the 90s everywhere. Nine cities in the Panhandle and southwest and north-central Nebraska hit triple digits. Temperatures in the 90s didn't keep thousands from attending the Summer Arts Festival in downtown Omaha Saturday. Chadron was the hardest hit. Temperatures there hit a sweltering 107 degrees Saturday afternoon. At 104 degrees, Alliance, Scottsbluff and Valentine weren't far behind. Readings also passed the century mark at McCook and Ogallala, 102 degrees; Sidney and Imperial, 101; and Ainsworth, 100. In western Iowa, only Le Mars hit 100. Elsewhere in Iowa, readings climbed to the upper 90s in the northwest and to the low to mid-90s in the southwest. The forecast holds little promise of relief. Temperatures in the 90s are expected throughout the region today and may top 100 in southern Nebraska. A front that is expected to move through northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa late today may trigger a few showers, the National Weather Service said. But conditions everywhere else will be bone-dry. That's because a high-pressure system is parked over the Midlands, said Dave Fobert, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Valley. The heat was taking its toll Saturday on Jeana Lam-Pickett and her family in Chadron. Although the area's low humidity makes the heat easier to bear, she said, the air hasn't been cooling off at night as usual. Lawns are starting to dry up. The fire danger "is definitely up." While outside watering hasn't been restricted yet in Chadron, she said, "At this point, it's almost like, why bother?" "You don't know if you are doing much good." The Metropolitan Utilities District in the Omaha metropolitan area pumped 201 million gallons of water Friday. Customer compliance with the voluntary odd-even watering system was expected to cut usage Saturday to about 187 million gallons, M.U.D. spokeswoman Mari Matulka said. Under the system, people with addresses ending in an odd number - 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 - water on the calendar days ending with those numbers. Those with addresses ending in an even number - 2, 4, 6, 8, 0 - water on calendar days ending with those numbers. With no rain in sight, however, the utility still may have to consider mandatory restrictions, Matulka said. "We are not out of the woods yet," she said. "It's very, very important that customers comply with the watering system." The forecast called for lows tonight ranging from the upper 50s in northwest Nebraska to the lower 70s in the south. Highs Monday and Tuesday again will be in the 90s, with overnight lows in the 60s in the northwest and the lower 70s southeast. Wednesday will be hotter yet, with highs in the 90s in eastern Nebraska and near 100 in the west. Temperatures should climb to the mid-90s in western Iowa today and cool to the 70s overnight, the weather service said. Highs in the mid-90s were expected through Wednesday. Click here for water conservation tips.

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