by Do you believe in Global Warming yet? We here on the East Coast got that religion yesterday as thermometers slammed in at 102 degrees and we tried to drown our sorrows in bottles of water. Today offers the same boiling forecast.
New York City coped pretty well with the First Day in Hell, but what about today and the next day and the next?
With the temperature reaching 103 degrees in Central Park at 3:11 p.m., breaking the former record high of 101 degrees for the day set in 1999, Con Edison officials braced for the greatest demand for power they had ever had to supply. The long red arrow on the dial projected on a screen in the utility company’s command center in Manhattan hovered at the threshold of uncharted territory — 13,141 megawatts consumed at one time — for most of the afternoon.
The heat broke several records in the Northeast, as Boston, Providence and Philadelphia all saw temperatures in the 100s that eclipsed previous highs. In Philadelphia, a 92-year-old woman was found dead in her home on the second floor. The medical examiner ruled that extreme heat was a factor in her death.
The average temperature for July in the New York City metro area is a balmy 75.3 degrees:
Is 102 degrees the new standard? Or are we only in the crest of a heatwave anomaly?
We live in a big city and, every year, we lose electricity during the summer months at least three times.
We know the system is overloaded and the substructures are burning up — but how can we fix the problem when there’s no money, and no governmental initiative other than coping through the moment — to fix the infrastructure for our long view thriving?
In the meantime, we all teeter together as a teeming city of huddled, and hot, masses yearning to breathe AC.
My electric bill was $100 more than the previous month this last month — not looking forward to it this month! Rough goings. On the plus side, Starbucks is offering their $2 iced grande drinks after 2PM if you get anything before 2 — nice deal.
Yikes! Those are the big, rough, prices of life in the Big City, Gordon. Usually heat is our highest utility, but AC is creeping right up to the crown’s nest.
Love the Starbucks sale! That’s a mighty help!
It is getting toasty here in the Pacific Northwest, maybe reach 100 this week, we don’t know what to do we are not used to it.
Son-in-law’s parents are coming from New York for the wedding this weekend I bet they are thinking they will get respite from the heat coming here.
Hi Mik!
Gak! Akismet got ye again, today. No idea why.
It’s discouraging to learn that the heatwave is hitting the gorgeous NW! If you hit a hundred, jinkers, I’ll feel sorry for you. Do you have air conditioning or isn’t it needed in your area?
I’m sure the NYers are looking forward to some cool conditions — let’s hold thumbs that the weather behaves.
Good luck with the wedding!
How about now? Maybe it is because the previous comment was posted from work.
That worked perfectly, Mik! I guess it is your work IP that is choking Akismet! SMILE!
A friend of mine who works at NYU just called. He’s still in his office at 9:40pm at night. I asked him why he was working so late. He said, “It’s cooler here than in my apartment.” Ha! Smart! True! I bet he spends the night on his office floor. It’s completely miserable here with no place to hide from the simmering!
UPDATE:
My UPS driver said it was 145 degrees in the back of his truck yesterday. Bad for him — even worse for the packages!