Deadly heatwave settles across US and Canada

[Gerald]

One New Yorker says being outside is like "sitting in a sauna all day long"

A punishing heatwave has settled over central and eastern parts of the US and Canada, pushing temperatures as high as 37C (99F) and causing up to 22 deaths.

The US weather service warned of "dangerous" levels of heat and humidity creeping east on Friday, with no relief in eastern states until Sunday.

As much as 50% of the US population was under a heat advisory, officials said.

Meteorologists have put the temperatures down to a "dome" of high pressure in the atmosphere.

Many regions in the central US and parts of the eastern seaboard have seen heat indexes - a combination of temperature and humidity - topping 43C.

Air sinks

The blistering heat has also hit parts of Canada, with temperatures in Toronto expected to top 35C on Friday, according to Environment Canada.

At 38C (101F), Syracuse in New York State has already witnessed its hottest day since 1936, forecasters say.

"This is an exceptionally strong ridge of high pressure that really has an exceptional scope and duration," Eli Jacks, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the BBC.

"The air is sinking, as it sinks it compresses and gets warmer. It also dries out, so few clouds form to block the high early-summer sun," he said.

The combination of high heat and high humidity make it hard for the human body to cool itself - because sweat does not evaporate efficiently, he added.

Across the central and eastern US, people and animals alike have been struggling to keep cool amid the oppressive heat and humidity.

As the heat peaks in major population centres on the east coast, the number of deaths is expected to rise, officials warn.

Officials in the central state of Missouri say 13 people have died, and there have been fatalities in neighbouring Oklahoma, including a three-year-old boy.

In the town of Hutchinson in Kansas three elderly people were found dead in separate homes.

In Minnesota - a northern state known for its frigid winters - farm livestock have been dying from heat stress at a rate not seen in three decades, the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper reported. Turkeys have been hit especially hard, the paper reported.

In South Dakota, as many as 1,500 head of cattle have died in the heat, state veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven told Reuters news agency.

More than three-quarters of Texas is suffering from drought amid the worst dry spell in the state for decades.

Urban areas have opened cooling centres for the poor and elderly, and the National Weather Service has warned people in normally cool areas to be especially cautious.

Seattle shivers

Philadelphia has deployed police officers to manage hot, irritated crowds at the city's public swimming pools.

Electricity company Con Edison said scattered power cuts were likely in New York in the next several days amid a surge in usage of air conditioning units.

The city's fire chiefs have hired additional crews and officials have placed mobile fountains around the city to allow people to refill water bottles.

In Nashville, Tennessee, hospital staff have reported several cases of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Chicago is experiencing unhealthy smog levels caused by the heat. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency asked the city's residents to reduce polluting activities, such as mowing lawns and keeping the engines running on stationary vehicles.

Forecasters said the damage caused by the heat could be worse that that brought about by a heatwave in Chicago in 1995, when more than 700 people died over three days.

Asphalt and concrete pavements and buildings in cities were "re-radiating" the heat, forecasters say.

By Friday, the high pressure system moving east is expected to bring thunderstorms with hail to the north-eastern US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14238358

Note: 22 July 2011 Last updated at 11:58 GMT

[frau kaleun]

http://hackedirl.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/epic-win-photos-apropos-sign-win.jpg


It's brutal here. Heat index has been 105-110 deg F pretty much all week. Topping out at a possible 120 F in direct sunlight on the worst days. We were told there would be relief when the weekend got here but the heat alert has now been extended through tomorrow night at least. Supposedly a chance of some pop up showers/storms between now and then, but all that does is make it even more humid after the rain stops.

[Paul Riley]

I saw it on Sky News earlier,absolutely crazy!.One minute USA is being battered by storms now its baking in a freak heatwave affecting the entire continent.
It could also be down to a phase we are moving into known as the 'solar maximum' ,which occurs approx every 11yrs.Its where the energy frequency of the sun increases due to cosmic energy in space causing it to radiate more heat and energy,also huge sunspots have been reported on the sun recently.

[Gerald]

I love the heat ... the girls get wild, :yeah:

[mookiemookie]

I love the heat ... the girls get wild, :yeah:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii213/lildream36/fantasy%20art/fat.jpg

[Gerald]

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii213/lildream36/fantasy%20art/fat.jpg Hey ... I said girls, and girls proved they are ... but not my type ... but they'll find someone who fits them in the end, :doh: :DL

[frau kaleun]

I love the heat ... the girls get wild, :yeah:

Well, this girl just gets cranky. I hate summer to begin with, and this is not summer. IT'S HELL ON EARTH.




No, I take it back. HELL ISN'T THIS STICKY. :stare:

[Gerald]

Well, this girl just gets cranky. I hate summer to begin with, and this is not summer. IT'S HELL ON EARTH.




No, I take it back. HELL ISN'T THIS STICKY. :stare: Make it a little out of positive thinking, you can get nice heat, and enjoy the warmth of a pleasant way, and because you train so we know that heat is good for muscle conditioning, and that you may be able to travel to the North Pole, to get cool, :DL

[Jimbuna]

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii213/lildream36/fantasy%20art/fat.jpg

"Hi Babes...check me out"

http://www.armstrong-white.com/iphone/bib-big.jpg

[Growler]

Even the Army doesn't work that hard for long in this weather; for once in my life, I took a day off due to the heat - after yesterday's work, there's just no fuel for me to run on today, and no job is worth becoming a heat casualty.

It is unreal out there.

[Sailor Steve]

Well, this girl just gets cranky. I hate summer to begin with, and this is not summer. IT'S HELL ON EARTH.




No, I take it back. HELL ISN'T THIS STICKY. :stare:
And here in the high desert it's been cooler and wetter than usual. Normally we don't see a cloud from June to September, but this year it seems like it's rained every third day.

That could be the storms mentioned earlier, but normally it's almost 100 this time of year, and today it might reach 90. But we average 15% humidity for the year, so it's not sticky at all. :D

[papa_smurf]

Sounds like your due some heavy thunder/hail storms soon...

[Gerald]

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8219/icsjpeg.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/7/icsjpeg.jpg/)

At your service, :DL

[Anthony W.]

I WISH it only got to 99!

I was in Appleton Wisconsin a few days ago and it was 125...

Got to 108 in my home town.

[Task Force]

I HATE HEAT! *******ING HEATWAVE! With humidity its 113F.:stare:

[frau kaleun]

I HATE HEAT! *******ING HEATWAVE! With humidity its 113F.:stare:

http://chzbromania.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/guidos-bros-douchebags-fratboys-bros-of-nature-the-nurse-shark.jpg

[Gerald]

You're not used to heat ... think about those who constantly live in the desert, where it is warm, take it in comparison, :D

[mako88sb]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of heat either. Here in Calgary, it's rare to get much past 30 degrees C. Mid 20's is more of the norm. Last year, we had more +30C days in Sept then July & August combined for some odd reason. Not much in the way of humidity either. Pretty pleasant climate except for the blasted winter. Our forecast high for today is 13 C! Come on over & cool down!

[Armistead]

Really, AC ain't been around long. When I grew up we had one window unit in the living room, nights we opened windows and put fans in them. Go back further to the 1800's, think how hot women had to get wearing long dresses going across the desert. We complain because we're spoiled.

[Gerald]

True ... but of course they had long dresses, but nothing under her dress, :O:

[krashkart]

I try to remind myself that other areas of the planet have much higher humidity and heat on average than we get here even on our hottest days. Doesn't stop me from grumbling about it, though. :haha:

[Gerald]

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1740/actuallos600x405.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/233/actuallos600x405.jpg/)

[Gerald]

By the time the clock struck 10 a.m. Friday morning, the temperature in Central Park had already hit 93 degrees.

At 12:45, the temperature was 102 degrees, breaking the record of 101 degrees for July 22 in New York, set in 1957. And in Newark, the noon temperature reached 104, soaring past the previous record of 101, which was also set in 1957.

According to the National Weather Service, it felt like 116 degrees in New York.

To those out in the streets, it felt more like being licked by a big, swampy monster.

“It’s a steam bath,” said Joseph Goldstein, 67, as he sat on a Manhattan street in the morning across from his broken-down cab. “In all my years in New York, I’ve never seen it get this hot this early.”

Making matters worse, a fire had shut down one of the city’s largest sewage treatment plants, rendering some waters around New York unfit for recreational use, including swimming.

The record-breaking heat wave that began in the central United States earlier in the week had pushed east by Thursday, sending the temperature to 97 in New York City.

“One could say, ‘Oh, it’s summer, its late July, it’s hot,’ ” said Christopher Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. “But this is different.”

According to Mr. Vaccaro, this heat wave is exceptional not only for its strength, but also for its breadth and duration. More than 1,400 record-high temperatures have been broken or tied around the country in July alone, Mr. Vaccaro said, and that number was expected to rise on Friday as 132 million people across the country were living under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory.

In New York City, as the mercury crept higher, Consolidated Edison’s consumers were on pace to set an all-time mark for power consumption. That record, 13,141 megawatts, was set in the late afternoon of Aug. 2, 2006, and was never broken throughout the sweltering summer of 2010. But on Friday morning, the load was running about 200 megawatts above the hourly totals from that 2006 date.

At 10 a.m. on Friday, for example, Con Ed’s customers were using 12,336 megawatts, compared with 12,003 at 10 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2006. John Miksad, Con Ed’s senior vice president for electric operations, said he expected a new record for demand would be set by the end of the week and that the company should have the capacity to handle that without any significant failures in its distribution system.

At 11 a.m., the biggest problem Con Ed faced was in one neighborhood in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, where about 500 customers had lost power, said Bob McGee, a spokesman for the utility.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, on his weekly radio appearance, said New Yorkers should turn up their thermostats to 79 degrees to conserve power and while that might be too warm for some, “not having electricity would be a lot more uncomfortable.”

City officials announced that cooling centers would be open daily through the heat wave. The Department of Environmental Protection also turned fire hydrants around the city into drinking-water fountains. And Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered the Parks Department to offer extended hours at swimming facilities at state parks.

Meanwhile, hundreds of city employees and contractors, some from out of state, were working Friday to repair the badly damaged sewage treatment plant in Harlem that has discharged millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. The broiling heat had set across most of the Eastern Seaboard, from Georgia all the way up to Maine. The temperature in Washington, D.C. — which was 91 degrees at 10 p.m. Thursday night, with a heat index of 111— was forecast to hit 103. Even Portland, Me., which usually enjoys a pleasant 79 degrees in July was expected to hit 100 on Friday.

“It’s just going to be miserable,” said Mr. Vaccaro of the National Weather Service. “And, frankly, really unhealthy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/nyregion/heat-wave-envelops-the-northeast.html?_r=1&hp

Note: Update Record,July 22, 2011

[Jimbuna]

I try to remind myself that other areas of the planet have much higher humidity and heat on average than we get here even on our hottest days. Doesn't stop me from grumbling about it, though. :haha:

We Brits tend to get a varied fluctuation in weather terms...nothing in excess but give us a week of any one weather type and we moan and whine a fair deal :DL

[Growler]

Ran out to pick up a few things for work tomorrow - it's godawfuldamned hard to breathe, even, out there today... and I'm in cow country. I can't imagine what the city's like.

[Takeda Shingen]

104 F at the firehouse when I just went by. :sunny:

[Krauter]

Yesterday it was 35 without humidity here in Montreal, not sure what it is outside, felt a little cooler this morning but it's damn hot now.

Back home in south Ontario my sister told me it was something like 116 with humidity.

You're not used to heat ... think about those who constantly live in the desert, where it is warm, take it in comparison

The heat I don't mind, but when it feels like I'm breathing water from the humidity is when I start to hate it.

[Stealhead]

Really, AC ain't been around long. When I grew up we had one window unit in the living room, nights we opened windows and put fans in them. Go back further to the 1800's, think how hot women had to get wearing long dresses going across the desert. We complain because we're spoiled.


True about the old days though back then at least down south the homes where built to have a natural draft to them and had higher ceilings my grand mothers house was built in the 1880s and she has no A/C in it(only some fans in some rooms) and it actually does not get to bad I checked the temp a few years back on a really hot day about 95 out side maybe 107 with heat index and in most rooms the temp was around 83 which is not too bad all things considered.

Now a modern post 1945 home different story indeed all that insulation will make the mouse much hotter if there is not an A/C system running inside also modern homes tend to have lower ceilings which lowers natural draftiness.

Few years back in FL we had the power knocked out for 14 days by a Hurricane(yep I said 14 days) my house which is from 1976 got unbearably hot even at night with no way to even move the air around so we packed up and stayed at my grandmothers who also had no power but the house was built when no one had power anyway.So it was kind of like traveling back in time to the 1880s.

[krashkart]

The heat I don't mind, but when it feels like I'm breathing water from the humidity is when I start to hate it.

That, and when I have to wear the same sweat all day long it's not very pleasant. Much better to be able to evaporate a few liters of water intake than to have it uselessly soaking my clothing and truck seat. :shifty:


108 here last i checked.


We Brits tend to get a varied fluctuation in weather terms...nothing in excess but give us a week of any one weather type and we moan and whine a fair deal :DL

Ain't that the truth. :haha: No matter where we live in the world the pleasant weather never lasts long enough, and the unpleasant weather drags on for all eternity. :DL

[Sailor Steve]

Back in the early 1980s I was working driving skiers in winter and in summer I drove tourists around in this.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a325/SailorSteve/BiFgQQBWkKGrHqYH-CwEsMp6CRLBLMuh-MRTQ_12.jpg

One fine day I had a load of people and during a stop one man asked me if I knew how hot it was. I told him that I had noticed an electric sign on a bank earlier that claimed it was 108 degrees.

"A hundred and eight? What's the humidity?" When I told him it was probably 10 percent he said "Well that explains it! Back home in Alabama it can be eighty degrees and eighty percent and it feels twice this hot!"

[Jimbuna]

'Old Salty' eh? :hmmm:

:DL

[Stealhead]

I think New Orleans and the surrounding region of Louisiana is one of the hottest feeling places in the US.I been in NO a few times when it was in the mid 80s and the humidity really high you feel like you are in a damn sauna.

I have a cousin that lives in Houma once at his house I was outside for only about 10 minutes and was sweating like a damn pig just from standing outside much less doing anything.

[Sailor Steve]

Ayup. Drove that thing around all summer long for three years.

[flatsixes]

Hot.

Weather Station
Windsor Farms, Richmond
Elevation
250 ft
Station Select
Now

Scattered Clouds
Temperature
104.1 °F
Feels Like 124 °F
Wind(mph)
0.0
Sunrise / Set
6:05 AM
8:27 PM

[Platapus]

I have an Ultragage in my car. It has an internal temperature sensor and will alarm if the UG temp exceeds 145 degrees F. When I got in to my car today to leave work, it registered 150 degrees in my car. :o

I hope no one is leaving any pets in their cars. :yep:

[Subnuts]

Pushed carriages for half an hour today at the grocery store where I work, lost so many electrolytes I could barely stand up the rest of my shift. A nurse from Hartford Hospital saw me taking a break in the entrance lobby, and went over to the customer service desk and basically insisted that I stay inside the rest of the day.

This isn't the safest way to lose weight, folks. :o

[Growler]

Pushed carriages for half an hour today at the grocery store where I work, lost so many electrolytes I could barely stand up the rest of my shift. A nurse from Hartford Hospital saw me taking a break in the entrance lobby, and went over to the customer service desk and basically insisted that I stay inside the rest of the day.

Your employers should be fined for having you out in this heat, 'nuts. Someone in your chain-of-command should have been paying better attention. good for that lady - she very probably saved your life.


This isn't the safest way to lose weight, folks. :o

Or remain breathing, for that matter.

[Subnuts]

I'd say it was more my overzealous work ethic that got me in trouble than any of the store's policies. We're allowed to come inside and drink as much water as we want, can sign out cold water from the coolers for free, and we can spend a couple minutes in the lobby cooling off if we need to. I noticed that the carriage corrals in the parking lot were overflowing, and no one else would get them, so I ended up overworking myself trying to get them all back. It's not like our customers ever bring them back themselves, even when it's 70 and breezy outside. One of our "full time" carriage-pushers grew up in Ghana, and even he couldn't tolerate the heat today!

[Growler]

I hear ya. My own overzealousness yesterday kept me home today. That said, management's job is to protect the business from us, sometimes - if we die, they're afraid they'll get sued.

[Rilder]

Its been horrible here for the last week, Didn't feel like playing any games, and it was too hot to sleep...THANKFULLY, here in Wisconsin I think its finally starting to ease up since last night it cooled off so nice and since my room is actually pretty ventilated compared to the rest of the house I went to bed and it was just so nice.

I hate summer, its the worse season. Sure the pretty ladies might walk around in their bikinis in the summer but in the winter they have reason to get close to you and get warm. :O: