The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Heat waves sweep the northeast U.S.
Scorching temperatures swept the Northeast on Sunday in the summer’s first prolonged heat wave, with a record-breaking five straight days of triple-digit temperatures in Newark, New Jersey, and blistering heat in Boston; Providence, Rhode Island; and Manchester, New Hampshire.
Other parts of the country also sweltered, with Oklahoma enduring temperatures that have topped 100 degrees in nine of the past 11 days.
Heat waves in the United States jumped from an average of two per year in the 1960s to six per year by the 2010s. The last seven years have been the warmest in the history of accurate worldwide records.
The Northeast heat surge, which hit some of the country’s most densely populated corridors, sent residents scrambling for relief. In New York City, temperatures stayed just shy of record highs Sunday afternoon, hitting 94 in Central Park, as lines formed at the city’s pools, despite many facing lifeguard shortages.
William Jimenez, 59, brought his 13-year-old son to the Crotona Park pool in the New York City borough of the Bronx early in the day, knowing that the spot would be mobbed later.
“The weather is getting hotter and hotter,” he said. “The best thing is to be in the pool and the park.”
In Newark, the temperature reached 100 degrees, a record for the date and the fifth day of above 100-degree readings, the longest recorded streak for the city. Providence hit 97 degrees, breaking its previous record of 94 in 1987, and Boston reached a sweltering 99 degrees, breaking its earlier record of 98 in 1933.
From Boston to Philadelphia to St. Louis, major cities declared heat emergencies and advisories that lasted throughout the weekend, some triggering services to keep residents cool, like opening libraries as cooling centers. In notoriously swampy Washington, D.C., where temperatures hovered in the 90s, officials extended opening hours for some of the city’s pools, and Kansas City, Missouri, released tips on Twitter for residents to keep heat from damaging the foundations of their homes.