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Brutal heat is bearing down on much of the United States this weekend, with nearly 96 million Americans sweltering under heat advisories or warnings and heat indices in the Northeast climbing into the triple digits.
Officials up and down the Interstate 95 corridor urged residents to stay hydrated and watch for signs of heat-related illness as people flocked to swimming pools and cooling centers for relief in sprawling cities from Boston to DC.
More than 30 National Weather Service stations could approach or exceed record temperatures Sunday, the NWS Weather Prediction Center said Friday. The high humidity is pushing heat indices (the temperature the air feels like) above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, a turnaround from the Northeast’s relatively mild start to summer.
“The ‘Dog Days of Summer,'” said the Weather Prediction Center, “are unquestionably here.”
The extreme heat, which is expected to continue until early next week, is another warning sign that climate change is increasingly jeopardizing what is traditionally a time associated with relaxing summer holidays . Temperatures are rising, wildfires are becoming more severe and droughts are becoming more frequent, a striking change from previous generations, scientists say.
Summer in America is getting hotter, longer and more dangerous
In some cities, this weekend’s extreme heat caused major events to be changed due to safety concerns. The Boston Triathlon originally scheduled for Sunday was postponed to late August “due to the current heat emergency.” Although the New York City Triathlon and Duathlon are still scheduled to take place on Sunday, organizers announced that they had shortened the cycling and running segments of the competition.
“The safety of our athletes and all attendees is our highest priority,” New York Triathlon organizers said.
New York officials turned public spaces into cooling centers and provided spray caps for fire hydrants, which are intended to reduce the amount of water released if people open hydrants to maintain cool The city’s Weather Service station said the next two days would be the “hottest weekend of the year so far” in the area and warned that temperatures would climb into the 90s and could still feel higher
If New York’s heat wave lasts through Monday, it would match a similar seven-day heat wave in 2013, when heat indices reached at least 95 degrees every day.
Boston was set to experience temperatures in the 80s and 90s on Saturday, with “comfortable” humidity levels. But the Weather Service warned of more oppressive heat conditions for Sunday, with heat index values ​​as high as 105 degrees.
Too much heat can be dangerous, making it difficult for the body to cool down and can cause a rapid pulse, nausea or loss of consciousness. Unsafe temperatures are forcing people up and down the Atlantic coast to figure out how to protect themselves.
What does extreme heat do to the human body
Susan Driscoll, 58, said she has been running earlier than usual to avoid the Boston heat. The photographer and personal trainer captured an image of the sunrise at Paul Revere Park on Saturday morning.
“The miles are down and the pace is down” because of the heat, he said, adding that he’s “listening to his body” this weekend.
“I didn’t have a race or anything on the schedule, thank God, because I could have gone for a walk,” Driscoll said.
In Philadelphia, where the heat index could reach 100 on Sunday, the fire department asked residents not to use fire hydrants to cool off. — warning that opening the hydrants could damage them, as well as property and people nearby. He encouraged residents to find public pools and spray parks, However.
The District of Columbia is bracing for temperatures to potentially reach triple digits for the first time since 2016. Temperatures were already in the mid-90s Saturday morning and were continuing to rise, The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang reported. In response, the city extended the hours of public swimming pools, opened cooling centers and expanded the number of beds in its homeless shelters to give people a cool place to sleep.
The heat wave is especially difficult for some residents in the Northeast, where air conditioning is not as ubiquitous as in other parts of the country.
Lauren Kinsley said she has been working from her Manhattan home for the past few days to avoid the heat.
“I only have one air conditioner in my apartment, a window unit, but I’m trying to keep costs down,” said Kinsley, 32, who works in fundraising. “So it’s been sweltering in my apartment basically all week, and I just now went out for coffee. And I came back soaked.”
Kinsley said she plans to go see “Ms. Harris Goes to Paris” at a movie theater this weekend, in part because it means she’ll be in an air-conditioned space.
“But you have to brave the heat to get there,” he said, adding that he stops to run errands until the weather cools.