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I Declare The Heat Is Over

The heat wave is over, clearing the way to let us blast the A/C again:

While residents of the region waited for cooler weather to arrive overnight, the human toll of the heat wave became apparent, with at least four deaths linked to the weather: a woman who died after passing out in her Long Island home, a couple who died in their Newark apartment, and a man found unconscious on the Brooklyn waterfront.

Temperatures remained brutal. The National Weather Service reported record highs for the date at La Guardia Airport (99 degrees), Kennedy International Airport (99) and Newark Liberty International Airport (100). Records were also set in Islip, N.Y., at 98 degrees, and Bridgeport, Conn., at 97. The temperature in Central Park reached 96, which was short of a record, and today a high of a mere 85 is expected.

Meanwhile, the city came dangerously close to a widespread blackout:

Consolidated Edison faced its greatest risk of a power failure since the nine-day blackout in western Queens last month, after a series of manhole fires and explosions yesterday morning near Kips Bay and Gramercy Park in Manhattan.

In the two electrical networks that make up that area, high-voltage feeder cables began to fail. In the early afternoon, 7 of 36 were out of action, threatening the power supply to a broad section of the East Side, from 14th to 40th Streets. By nightfall, most of the cables had been fixed.

To take some pressure off its equipment, Con Ed reduced the voltage that customers received by 5 to 8 percent for parts of the day, in all of Brooklyn and Queens and in parts of Manhattan.

The utility took the extraordinary step of taking its own headquarters, at 4 Irving Place near Union Square, off the electrical grid and putting it on generator power, and having crews race door to door on the East Side, urging businesses and residents to shut off power.

The city medical examiner’s office was evacuated because of smoke from a Con Edison transformer that caught fire. It lost electricity for about five hours and had to use emergency generators to keep its refrigerated morgue between 32 and 40 degrees. Several bodies scheduled for autopsies were moved to Queens.

One of those bodies was that of an unidentified man, believed to be in his early 30’s, who had been found unconscious along the piers near the mouth of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. He was pronounced dead at Maimonides Medical Center at 6:40 p.m. on Wednesday. The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, said yesterday that the man appeared to be a victim of heat stroke and that alcohol, which worsens dehydration, might have been a factor in his death.

Posted: August 4th, 2006 | Filed under: The Weather

It’s So Hot That The Only Thing I Can Do Is Complain

Weather porn, day two:

But as the day dragged on in a hazy trance, the heat made even the seconds pass by in a sluggish torpor: it was a morning and night of a million little miseries, with just as many ways to get through them.

Many seats in New York City summer school sessions were vacant after the city’s announcement that students could stay home. Office workers seeking a cigarette break faced a one-two punch of heat and humidity if they dared venture from cooled lobbies. Observant Jews wrestled with how to deal with a day of fasting that began last night — and prohibits the drinking of water. At Rikers Island, running under generator power, guards, inmates and visitors all sweated.

. . .

Creeping down 58th Street in Woodside, Queens, in his white Ford van, Anthony Ramirez, 35, tilted his head back for a long gulp, downing the last of a bottle of Gatorade. “I’m going to need another one soon,” he said, looking ahead at the traffic, barely moving.

Sweat dripped down the sides of his face, stained the front of his T-shirt and made his arms look as if they had been dunked in a bucket of water. Hot water. “I feel like the devil’s in here,” he said, “It’s murder, I’m telling you.”

What it was, really, inside his van, was 111 degrees, according to a thermometer that toured some of the city’s hottest locations yesterday.

Posted: August 3rd, 2006 | Filed under: The Weather

Cutting Off The A/C On The Subway Only Makes Me Want It More

Everywhere in the city people are doing their part by conserving electricity:

Trying to forestall the crippling — and potentially hazardous — effects of the fiercest heat wave of the summer, New York City undertook a range of preventive measures yesterday, from shutting off the colored lights on the Empire State Building, to limiting air-conditioning in the fancy seats of Yankee Stadium, to ordering some municipal buildings, like the Rikers Island jails, to use their generators.

As temperatures around the region reached as high as 100 degrees, and as the heat index, which takes humidity into account, climbed to 113, sweltering New Yorkers sent the daily demand for power to record highs, despite city efforts to conserve. And today’s forecast calls for even hotter weather.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg set in motion an array of plans to help those most at risk. Some 400 “cooling centers” were opened in New York. Public pools stayed open an hour later than usual, until 8 p.m. City hospitals were asked to top off the fuel in their generators, and while there were no reports of fatalities, or even serious injuries, due to the heat, it was unclear what the human cost of the heat wave would be. Across the city, nurses and social workers were sent to visit the homebound elderly.

“This is a very dangerous heat wave,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “It really is more than just uncomfortable. It can seriously threaten your life.”

The city’s biggest employers, including stock exchanges, banks and tobacco companies, heeded requests from Consolidated Edison and the mayor to reduce power consumption by dimming lights and shutting down fountains and some elevators. Some switched to generators to lighten the load on the power grid.

. . .

At Citigroup’s headquarters on Park Avenue, one car in each elevator bank was taken out of service, and the air-conditioning was turned down. The big “Citi” sign atop the company’s tower in Long Island City, Queens, was switched off.

The torch and crown of the Statue of Liberty will remain illuminated so they are visible to pilots, but the lights in its base have been turned off. Thermostats in city buildings were set yesterday at 78 degrees, as they were at the main hall on Ellis Island and in buildings that are part of the sprawling Gateway National Recreation Area. Barry Sullivan, superintendent of the recreation area, said he gave his employees permission to wear “professional-looking shorts and short-sleeved button-down shirts sans ties.”

The AMC Empire 25 movie theater seemed to be following the mayor’s advice last night. What exactly do they think we paid $10.75 for? Movie theaters are the cooling centers of the middle class!

Posted: August 2nd, 2006 | Filed under: Architecture & Infrastructure, Jerk Move, The Weather

The H Is O

As per the Daily News, the H is O:

The heat will be on today, as temperatures are predicted to soar past the 100-degree mark — setting the stage for one of the hottest days in New York history.

The National Weather Service is calling for record highs of 100 to 105 degrees, which would break today’s record of 100 degrees.

It could even approach the city’s all-time high of 106, set back on July 9, 1936.

Strategies for beating the heat ran the gamut:

Lou Valentine, 68, chose a different way to keep cool yesterday — sitting in the air-conditioned confines of Zachary Taylor’s bar in Kew Gardens, Queens, drinking a Budweiser.

“I’m trying to give my air conditioner a break,” he said. “It’s on 24/7. I can’t buy an air conditioner every day.”

Posted: August 2nd, 2006 | Filed under: The Weather

Ole Ole! Ole Ole! Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

It’s the time of year for weather porn:

New Yorkers are bracing for three straight days of miserable, muggy and potentially deadly heat.

The frying forecast calls for temperatures at Central Park to hit the century mark for the first time since Aug. 9, 2001.

“To avoid heat exhaustion and heatstroke, New Yorkers should take necessary precautions, including staying out of the sun, avoiding strenuous activity, especially during the hottest part of the day,” Mayor Bloomberg said as he declared a heat emergency for the city.

The merciless mercury is expected to hit 100 today and 102 tomorrow at Central Park.

“We’re looking to either tie or break records over the next two days,” said meteorologist Joe Pollina of the National Weather Service.

Yesterday’s 90-degree high is just a warmup. If predictions hold, today’s heat at Central Park will tie a record set in 1933, and tomorrow’s scorcher will top a 51-year-old record.

Throw in the high humidity and it will feel like 110 to 115 for the next two days. By Thursday, thermometers at the park should drop to a comparatively cool 95.

Posted: August 1st, 2006 | Filed under: The Weather
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