New York City is about to get hit with its first official heat wave of the season.
On Sunday, the National Weather Service said high temperatures and humidity are expected to extend from the Midwest and the Great Lakes to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions in the coming days. Cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and New York City are listed as being at extreme heat risk with a chance of temperatures in the 90s and heat indexes as high as 100 degrees in some areas. The high heat is supposed to begin in the city on Tuesday, continuing through the end of the week.
“The duration of this heat wave is notable and potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center said on social media.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced Monday that she has activated 50 members of the state National Guard to provide assistance as needed and that statewide agencies are preparing for the excess heat. The state Department of Health will be distributing health guidances to hospitals, nursing homes and hosts of public events while the Department of Public Service is monitoring electric and utility systems.
Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials held a briefing Monday in anticipation of the heat, advising New Yorkers to be prepared for the weather and to check on relatives and neighbors particularly if they’re elderly or have health concerns. “We want to be clear. This is extremely hot for June, and New Yorkers should not underestimate the heat,” he said.
Adams said he expects the NWS to issue a heat advisory for the city that will be in effect from Thursday through Friday in what’s predicted to be the peak of the heat wave. The agency’s local office already has advisories in effect for Northeastern New Jersey and the majority of the lower Hudson Valley, as well as Connecticut’s northern Fairfield and northern New Haven counties.
Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency-management commissioner, said the heat indexes in the region could get close to 100 degrees, calling the numbers “dangerously high.” He said that cooling centers will be open throughout the city starting on Tuesday but noted that public pools are not yet open.
“So while it will be relentlessly hot all day, the peak intensity is forecasted to occur between noon and 8 p.m. each day. The temperature is expected to remain persistently high even at night,” he said.
Temperatures in the Northeast this week could potentially break records. Pittsburgh could potentially tie or surpass its 1994 record of six straight days of temperatures of 95 degrees or more. New York City hasn’t had a 100 degree day since 2012, according to Fox Weather.
