Sweltering temperatures broke several records over the weekend and prompted local authorities to declare heat emergencies. Cities baking under the prolonged heat also moved to provide relief measures, including cooling stations, splash pads and extra care for the homeless.
Concerns for the safety of participants prompted organizers of the New York City Triathlon to drastically reduce race distances and urge athletes to stay hydrated. Boston’s annual triathlon event was postponed until next month due to the city’s intense heat, which reached a daily record high of 100 degrees on Sunday. The weekend brought blistering temperatures that put more than 90 million people under excessive heat warnings Sunday across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Ohio River Valley and Central Plains. Cities in the Northeast were especially hard hit, with several breaking record high temperatures, including Providence, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut. Boston and Philadelphia, which hit a record high of 99 degrees on Sunday, extended their emergency heat advisories through Monday, warning residents to take precautions. to avoid heat-related illnesses, as heat indices (a measure of how hot you actually feel due to the combined heat and humidity) are expected to be in the 90s.
“As we extend the heat emergency for a second time, it is clear that a changing climate is a public health risk for our city,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. “I am grateful to the many City employees who have helped us through the first part of this emergency and I urge residents to continue to look out for each other.”
According to the CDC, excess heat poses real health hazards, especially for high-risk groups such as the elderly, children, and people with chronic illnesses and mental health issues. When people’s bodies can’t cool down enough or lose too much water, they can be at risk of life-threatening conditions such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion.
At least one person died of heat exposure in New York City on Saturday, according to the medical examiner’s office, which said the man had pre-existing conditions. The city’s high temperature that day was 97 degrees.
More than 40 million people in the United States are under heat warnings Monday morning, mainly in the Northeast, Central US and Pacific Northwest. But after Tuesday, temperatures in the Northeast will begin to fall closer to normal levels.
In the central United States, parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi are under heat warnings. Heat indices in the region could reach as high as 112 degrees through Tuesday.
Meanwhile, parts of the Pacific Northwest, which experienced a much cooler start to the year compared to their eastern counterparts, are under several excessive heat watches on Monday that may be upgraded to heat advisories in as the day progresses. These high temperatures are expected to last throughout the week and may continue into next week as well.
Excessive heat causes power outages at the weekend
Scorching heat left tens of thousands of people without power over the weekend as high temperatures caused outages, conditions that were exacerbated in some regions by ongoing storms.
In Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, roughly 20,000 customers were affected by a power outage Sunday, power company Eversource said in a statement.
Eversource was working to restore power to the remaining 7,500 customers Sunday afternoon and advised residents to avoid using large appliances during peak hours and to set thermostats higher than normal to reduce energy consumption. energy
New York City electricity provider Con Edison said its workers continued to “restore scattered outages caused by scorching heat” late Sunday as the utility also braced for another weather challenge: the forecast for storms on Monday.
The company did not say how many of its customers were affected by the outages, but said in a statement Sunday that its employees have been “replacing and repairing cables and other equipment to return customers to service.”
The company said it planned to bring on additional employees to help fix damaged overhead wires and equipment in anticipation of Monday’s storms.
Saturday afternoon’s storms in Greensburg, Pennsylvania knocked out power to more than 10,000 customers, leaving affected residents without power as near-record temperatures were forecast across the region.
Local utility West Penn Power said in a statement that high temperatures were affecting its services Sunday, even as it braced for more storms. The company said on Twitter Sunday that it was working to restore service to about 6,000 customers without power, down from about 39,000 total customers affected.
CNN’s Samantha Beech, Haley Brink, Liam Reilly, Emily Chang and Benjamin Schiller contributed to this report.