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Scorching heat is gripping much of the United States this weekend, with nearly 96 million Americans experiencing heat below warnings or heat advisories and heat indices in the Northeast reaching 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 pools and cooling centers for relief in cities stretching from Boston to D.C.
More than 30 National Weather Service stations could approach or exceed record temperatures by Sunday, the NWS Weather Prediction Center said Friday. The high humidity pushed heat indices — the temperature felt in the air — above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, a reversal of the Northeast’s relatively mild start to summer.
“‘The dog days of summer,'” the Weather Forecast Center said, “are without a doubt here.”
The extreme heat, which is expected to last until early next week, is another warning sign that climate change is increasingly threatening 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.
Summers in America are getting hotter, longer and more dangerous
In some cities, this weekend’s extreme heat caused major events to be changed for safety reasons. The Boston Triathlon, originally scheduled for Sunday, was postponed to late August “due to the current extreme heat.” While the New York triathlon and duathlon are still scheduled to take place on Sunday, organizers have announced that they have shortened the cycling and running segments of the race.
“The safety of our athletes and everyone in attendance is our top priority,” said organizers of the New York City Triathlon.
Authorities in New York City have turned public spaces into cooling centers and proposed sprinkler caps for fire hydrants that aim to reduce the amount of water released if people open hydrants to stay cool. The city’s weather station said the next two days would be the area’s “hottest weekend of the year so far” and warned temperatures would climb into the 90s and could feel even hotter.
If New York’s heat wave continues through Monday, it will match a similar seven-day heat wave in 2013, when heat indexes reached at least 95 degrees every day.
Boston should experience temperatures in the high 80s to high 90s on Saturday, with “comfortable” humidity levels. But the weather service warned of more oppressive heat on Sunday, with heat index values as high as 105 degrees.
Excessive heat can be dangerous, making it difficult for the body to cool down and potentially causing a rapid heart rate, nausea or loss of consciousness. Dangerous temperatures are forcing people up and down the Atlantic coast to figure out how to protect themselves.
What causes extreme heat to the human body
Susan Driscoll, 58, said she went for a run 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 were down and the pace was down” because of the heat, she said, adding that she was “listening to her body” this weekend.
“I didn’t have any races or anything else on the agenda, thank goodness, because I might have gone out and walked it,” Driscoll said.
In Philadelphia, where the heat index could reach the low to mid-100s on Sunday, the fire department asked residents not to use fire hydrants to cool off — a warning that opening the hydrants can damage them and nearby properties and people. He encouraged residents to find public pools and spray parks, instead.
D.C. is bracing for temperatures to potentially reach triple digits for the first time since 2016. Temperatures there already felt like the mid-90s Saturday morning and were continuing to climb, The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang reported. In response, the city extended the hours of public pools, opened cooling centers and expanded the number of beds in its homeless shelters to offer people a cool place to sleep.
The heat wave is particularly challenging for some residents in the Northeast, where air conditioners are 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 — one window — but I’m trying to cut costs,” said Kinsley, 32, who works in fundraising. “So it’s been hot in my apartment all week, and just now I went outside to get coffee. And I came back soaked.”
Kinsley said she planned to go see “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” in theaters this weekend, in part because that means she’ll be in an air-conditioned space.
“But you have to brave the heat to get there,” she said, adding that she’s putting off running errands until the weather cools.
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