Spared the Worst Summer Heat Until Now, the Northeast Starts to Sweat
In Baltimore, where temperatures were expected to reach 99 degrees on Thursday, the city declared a “code red” extreme heat alert, its first of the season. Mary Beth Haller, acting health commissioner, said the alert would remain in place through Saturday in hopes of convincing residents to take precautions.
Severe thunderstorms were expected to sweep through many states on Thursday afternoon and evening, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, where scattered flood watches were in effect on Thursday. Among the places at risk for flooding were Springfield, Mass., and Montpelier, Vermont’s capital city, which was inundated with several feet of water earlier this month after heavy rainfall pushed rivers over their banks.
Facing three days of potentially record-setting temperatures of 95 to 100 degrees on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, New York was placed under an excessive heat warning by the National Weather Service through Friday night. So was Washington, where temperatures were expected to hover around 100 degrees into the weekend.
The planet has warmed by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century and will continue to grow hotter until humans essentially stop burning oil, gas and coal, scientists say. The warmer overall temperatures contribute to extreme-weather events and help make periods of extreme heat more frequent, longer and more intense.
Over the next few days, New York City could see its hottest stretch of the year, if not several years, according to Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist in the New York offices of the Weather Service. Though the temperature in Central Park has hit 90 degrees or higher on six days this year, it has not yet reached the threshold to be considered a heat wave, which in New York is three consecutive days above 90 degrees.
Source: The New York Times
