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The Big Apple is baking under a heat wave that’s making New York’s concrete canyons feel hotter than Death Valley.
Yesterday, the city suffered its hottest day this year, as the temperature in Central Park reached a brutal 97 degrees.
Today, the mercury could reach 103, which would break the all-time July 22 record of 101, set in 1957.
The high temperatures don’t even tell the whole story. Yesterday’s 97-degree heat actually felt like 112 because of humidity and lack of wind, according to AccuWeather.
“The weather’s so hot, I feel like a walking sweat bucket,” said Jemma Wilson, 22, a tourist from England who was downtown yesterday.
“This heat has been miserable. It’s brutal,” said David Maryasin, 25, of Forest Hills, Queens, who went to the beach at Jacob Riis Park to cool off. “I’ll be here the whole weekend.”
City officials opened up 500 cooling centers throughout the five boroughs, where people without air conditioning can go to avoid the stifling temperatures. Officials also warned the elderly and anyone with health problems to stay out of the heat.
The FDNY responded to 42 calls for heat-related issues yesterday, but the department couldn’t say if there were fatalities.
Rescue workers are likely to stay busy throughout the weekend, with high temperatures lingering through Sunday, due to an unusual high-pressure system sitting above the area, making the air hot and stagnant.
“You have high pressure at most levels of the atmosphere,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. “Not only is it warm at the surface, it’s also warm upstairs [in the upper atmosphere]. That creates a very stable atmosphere.”
Today’s temperatures could feel like well over 113, he said.
Such high temps make the 97 recorded yesterday in California’s infamous Death Valley desert seem like a mild fall day.
The forecast for tomorrow in Central Park is a high of 99.
Sunday will be “cooler” at a mere 93 degrees. There is almost no chance of cooling rain throughout the weekend.
“When it gets this hot, there is always a risk of an isolated thundershower popping up,” Sosnowski said. “But the odds seems to be against that.”
It was so hot yesterday, time stopped in its tracks.
Subway countdown clocks at a dozen stations throughout the city had to be powered down because temperatures in underground equipment rooms can reach a scorching 120 degrees, which could damage the equipment, MTA officials said.
Affected stations included Columbus Circle, Spring Street, 77th Street/Lexington and Park Place in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers such as Lindsay Katt, a 26-year-old musician, are finding any way to beat the heat. Yesterday, she took her 18-month-old girl to City Hall Park to play in the sprinklers.
“I saw them yesterday and I was praying they’d be on,” she said. “We haven’t tried to fry an egg on the street yet, but I’m pretty sure its getting to be that hot.”
Others tried to find cooler temperatures at the shore. A sea breeze kept the mercury in the 80s at JFK Airport, situated on Jamaica Bay, and it also gave relief to city beachgoers.
“Off the beach, I’m sweating — the sweat’s just pouring down my face,” said Elizabeth Dananilow, 52, a legal secretary from Ozone Park, Queens, at Jacob Riis yesterday. “I’m definitely coming back here tomorrow.”
“It’s magnificent here,” added Barbara Cillo, an X-ray technician from Queens. “There’s a breeze — you wouldn’t know how hot it was.”
In Manhattan, bank intern Tom Murphy, 20, said the park in Chinatown where he normally plays ball is a ghost town.
“I come out here every day, and usually there are a ton of people out here, but I’m the only one out here,” he said. “I guess it’s because it’s too hot today.”
In Brooklyn, nanny Michelle Vega set up a small pool for her kids in Prospect Park under the shade of a tree.
“We’re just trying to make the best of it,” she said.