As if on cue, our wonderful weekend weather ended with a rain show during this morning's commute. Once again we are back in a steam bath. Tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be hot and sticky. There's a chance of rain, but that's more of a CYA gesture by forecasters whenever it is hot and humid. And it will be hot, with temperatures in the mid-90s the next two days. Not as hot as in Chicago, which reached 104 yesterday, but still plenty uncomfortable.
With hot weather soon again upon us Gothamist would like to visit the hottest subway station (yes, we're strange). Any suggestions as to which station is the warmest?
The hot spell isn't going to last too long. Thursday is actually looking cool, with highs in the mid-70s. If you're like Gothamist and already looking forward to the weekend look forward to another bout of sunny, dry and mild weather.
Heat wave graphic from AccuWeather.com





I vote for 181st on the 1 train. It's much further underground than other stations, and gets super stuffy, being only accessible by elevator. The homeless love it because it stays toasty in the winter. But I think of it as my own personal hell!
I was shocked by the steam bath that is the N/Q/R/W 57th Street station. Was down there last week, and every passenger on the platform looked like they were going to pass out or suffocate.
Herald Square is pretty awful. It usually is really hot AND smelly.
Downstairs at West 4th gets horrible
I agree with jenny. While Herald Square may not be the hottest platform, it sure is a top contender for the most disgusting.
the N/R/W/Q platform at Herald Square is definitely the hottest one I've ever experienced. it's seriously pure torture.
The worst/most bizarre smelling area I think its the Whitehall station on the N/R, going downtown into Brooklyn at the very front of the platform. Yes, that specific. It's not your typical urine/garbage/feces smell. It almost smells like a durian, or a ginko berry tree. Really horrendous. Plus, if you touch one of the poles, sometimes you get the stank on your hands. Gothamist should make a special expedition of it to find out what's the deal. I often wanted to submit it to Time Out Magazine's "What's up with that?" section.
Yup, wahi is right, 181st on the 1/9 (oops, just 1 nowadays) and also the 168th st station on the same line are the hottest stations in the city. Nothing else comes close.
It's been a while since I've been in it but 59th Street (4,5,6 trains) was always like an oven.
i like the christopher street station, because you can get a slice of pizza right by the entrance! yujhrthere's also a starbucks down the stereet, acrtoss the square. there is a lot good fgood there.
The 1 line at 168th street-no contest. You have to take an elevator down to what feels like the earth's core.
The NY Sun did a very unscientific survey of 10 stations last week and found the platform at Chambers St. on the 1/2/3 line the hottest (103 degrees). I sure feel sorry for people that have to work down there all day when just standing on the platform for ten minutes is unbearable.
42st 1 train, at like 5:30 PM. Totally hot, humid, sticky, and filled with sweaty overweight commuters. Makes 'No Exit' seem like a wet dream.
The Manhattan bound side of the Bowery J/M/Z stop used to be one of the smelliest and nastiest I'd ever seen. The other side wasn't so bad for some reason....
I always also though the Times Square 7 platform was horrible since it was something like 9 levels down... like descending into hell.
Pacific Street B platform can also get nasty, and the Montague Street N/R can get hot since you take the elevator down. But, Brooklyn and Queens stops never get as hot as Manhattan... it's the law of concrete density distribution.
53rd Street/Madison E/V Queens bound platform is so far down, it's like an oven, and the escalator always seems broken. Even worse in the summer is the 51st Street/Lex E/V platform, which is tiny, hot and smelly.
Surprisingly, 63rd Street on the F isn't so bad even though you go down what seems like a mile. Maybe since it's so close to the water....
Bway/Lafayette F stop near the very front, or very back.... the back is much dirtier, and it gets hot as hell.
The worst I've felt so far is the Wall Street stop on the 4/5.. dear GOD. It is absolutely hellish.
I used to live in Forest Hills and the 71st Continental station really sucked in the summer. How is it these days, anyone?
The uptown 1 platform at 59th Street is just unbelievable. Muggy and hot and gross... reminds me of being in a giant lung. 181st is definitely up (or down) there too.
I think Union Square 4, 5, 6 is super HOT and NOISY to boot... The West 4th F station also sucks.
one more vote for the Herald Square stop on the N/R/Q/W platform
Thanks for all your great suggestions! I'll be sure to check some of them out.
The area under the local uptown platform at the IRT at Penn Station is perpetually ripe, even in winter. Probably rotting garbage from Sbarro's.
www.forgotten-ny.com
there must be some temperature above which the healthcodes are violated, no? can't we sue the MTA or something?
The Chambers Street A/C station is mind-meltingly hot. I'm getting sweaty just thinking about it!
I second Broadway-Lafayette, which is incredibly hot even in cool weather. The A/C platform at Fulton St. (Broadway-Nassau) is pretty brutal, too, especially because it is so packed with people most of the time.
On a hot day during the evening commute, the Wall Street 4/5 station is like a sauna.
My co-worker votes 34th Street F platform. She said growing up in New York, it was always her nightmare to go there in the summer...
168th St 1 stop, hands down. Nothing compares. You think you've got it bad, but until you've entered that sauna, you have no idea.
Just a tip - the Clinton-Washington G stop is NEVER HOT. I've actually been voluntarily taking the G instead of the C. You have to wait ages for either train, but at least you can wait in a nice, chilly station. Might be the only benefit of the G...
33rd St. 6 station -- in fact, anywhere on the 6 between Grand Central and Spring is brutal lately. Bonus points to Bleecker St. station for smelling like a dead body.
Yes, I love my home station, the Clinton-Washington G. It's never been hot - stuffy, sometimes, but not hot. Today, unfortunately, it was on the warm side, but definitely the least bad station I've felt on these hot days.
I seccond the 34th Street F station. Alot of times I'm coming back from Jersey through Penn station after midnight and even at night having to sit in that station for as long as half an hour is always worse than my entire trip to Jersey.
Last Friday, the uptown N/R/W/Q platform at Times Square was unbelievably hot and humid. It didn't help that my train took upwards of 45 minutes to show up.