Results tagged “summer”

Look a WCBS 2's Doppler map (pictured) —it looks like today really will be beautiful! And the city's beaches are only open for through Labor Day, so if you want your local surf and sun in, go! The summer's crummy weather ruined summer beachgoing, thanks to lots of rain, Hurricane Bill and Tropical Depression Danny. One Rockaway beachgoer told the Post yesterday, "I feel like summer is just beginning, and now it's over. I'm kind of upset about it. When it has been sunny recently, it's been too humid to sit outside and, before that, it was cold and wet. Now we have perfect beach weather at last -- and the beaches are about to be closed."

Today may be the last hot day of a summer with few hot days. A westerly breeze will push the afternoon high into the upper 80s. Tonight, a cold front will move south from Canada, bringing with it a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. More importantly, it appears that the front's passage will kill any chance of hot weather for the next couple of weeks.

Despite increasing warnings from Parks officials and a drowning death toll that continues to rise, swimmers are still finding their way into the Rockaways after lifeguards are off-duty, often into the night. The Times goes out to the Queens beaches to discover that "police officers patrol the area until 9 p.m. or so...but daring swimmers know to wait until the police leave to dive in, stepping past signs in English and Spanish warning against nighttime swimming." And one local resident tells the News, "Kids think it's just a big bathtub." City Councilman James Sanders held a community "brainstorming" session this week to discuss how to put an end to a deadly summer that has already claimed six victims, three times as many as all of last year. A Parks deputy described just how dangerous the waters can be by saying, "In certain weather conditions, particularly with a lot of south wind, the waves can create an opening in the bar. When that happens, it's like turning over a 5-gallon water cooler bottle and ripping the lid open - all the water comes rushing out." Here's a tutorial on what to do if you're caught in a rip current.

Yesterday was so hot and sticky the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory, which it does whenever the heat and humidity combine to make the temperature feel like 95 degrees or more. The high temperature was 92, and today's expected to get even grosser, with a high of 93 expected. Some combination of heat and mental illness may have driven 27-year-old Joshua Knee to dive into the East River at 72nd Street yesterday; Firefighter Justin McNally, who helped fish Knee out of the swift-moving soup, tells the Daily News, "I think he was just going for a swim." Knee was wearing swim trunks, and is now being held in the psychiatric ward at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell.

A day after a Bronx teenager drowned after getting caught in a Rockaway riptide, the Parks Department is suspending a lifeguard who was photographed wearing his iPod headphones while working at a nearby beach. Mayor Bloomberg was quick to lash out at the unnamed city employee, telling reporters, "He certainly wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing." The mayor also urged anyone on the beaches who spots something similar to call 311. Beachgoers in Rockaway told the Post headphones on the lifeguards who start out making $13.50 an hour are just the tip of the iceberg—one resident said, "Half the time, they're chatting with people. They're listening to music. They're on their cellphones. They're texting with people." The lifeguard in the photo could be fired if he has been on the job for less than a year; it'll at least be a consideration after a hearing if he's been around longer. A Parks Department spokesman said, "This is an unacceptable violation of our regulations, which is not representative of the dedication and diligence displayed by the vast majority of our over 1,300 lifeguards."

              

Yesterday afternoon the Pool Parties made their debut off the McCarren Pool grounds and on the Williamsburg waterfront, at East River State Park (Mission of Burma, Fucked Up, Ponytail and Jemina Pearl all played). This new home is even more temporary than the last—which is currently undergoing a $50 million makeover—only one summer of shows will be held here before it's time to find a new home. In the meantime, the crowds from yesterday were aTwitter with thoughts on the new space. Most of the reviews have been positive, and for the most part the same elements are there, with some slight changes.

It's summertime in the city, whether or not the weather's caught up yet, and it's likely you are currently sitting in a freezing cold air-conditioned office. Yesterday NY1's Pat Kiernan Twittered about a USA Today graphic that claimed "2/3 of Americans say air conditioning a 'necessity'," which actually seems slightly low.

Officials in Babylon have announced that the town will become the first on the Atlantic seaboard to offer free WiFi at beaches, parks and pools. The Suffolk County town will be opening four separate internet cafes at its various beaches over the next few weeks, the first one debuting this weekend at Overlook Beach. The cafes will also offer three free laptops as loaners and the signal will be strong enough to reach nearby boaters. Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone told the Post, "For the first time you'll be able to surf the Internet. It is very cool. We're very excited. You can take it down to the water, you can go into the water, if you want to." Less cool news recently came out of nearby Robert Moses State Park, where the only signal beach goers were getting was from Park officials telling them to head elsewhere since large portions of the shore had to be closed off due to erosion.

Ah summertime: sunkissed skin, sunny days...and a better chance at getting brutally murdered. The NY Times has a story, accompanied by a cheery map, tracking homicides in the city—specifically how their numbers go up along with the temperature. The paper actually calls New York in the summer months a "distinctively lethal place," following their multiyear analysis of murder trends compiled from records dated 2003 to 2008.

After years of spot erosion accumulating on Field 5 of Robert Moses State Park, the beach's deterioration has been so severe this spring that half of the popular Babylon site and its parking area are going to be closed down for the summer. Off-shore storms and possibly the ghost of Jane Jacobs have left the beach in a state where at high tide, the surf goes right up to the dunes, which have now been replaced by an eight-foot cliff. A state parks director told Newsday, "The surf cut into the dunes and at high tide there is no beach for people to put their blankets on. This is the worst erosion at that section of Robert Moses that we have seen since at least two decades." Field 5 can usually play host to up to 10,000 sunbathers and its parking lot holds 1,200 spaces. In order to accommodate, Field 4 has begun taking on some of its lifeguards and will now be open on Thursdays and Fridays starting in July. Just last summer the Suffolk park celebrated its 100th anniversary.

       

Since Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to summer, here are some old LIFE magazine photos showing city-dwellers cooling off during past summer months. Maybe you can take some pointers from them this season (stoops, shorts, shade and swimsuits seem to help)! Or you can always spend the hot months indoors finally reading Infinite Jest. [Hat tip Ephemeral NY]

Good news, seven blocks of Bedford Avenue will become a pedestrian-only zone again on select Saturdays as Williamsburg Walks returns for the summer.

While the Woodstock crew tries to work out the logistics of having their 40th anniversary concert in Prospect Park, the folks at Celebrate Brooklyn! have announced some of their summer show lineups, including an Opening Night Green Gala & Concert to kick it all off. On June 8th you can attend the eco-friendly Gala for anywhere from $325 to $10,000, which includes a reserved seat to the concert (Mr. David Bryne), cocktails, dinner, and a dance party, and they ask that you wear summer cocktail attire (that sounds so Gatsby!). Those pinching their pennies can pay $0 to $3 (suggested donation) for non-reserved seats to the concert portion of the evening. Not a bad deal!

Ha, remember how last spring that poor guy fell through Ruby's floor into a filthy, rat-infested basement? If this photo is any indication, patrons at the quintessential Coney Island dive should also use caution when stepping out of the bar. Or, at least they would if the place was actually open; after ongoing negotiations with controversial landlord Joe Sitt, the owners of Ruby's still do not have a lease.

Remember that festival over in Liberty State Park, NJ last summer featuring a little band called Radiohead? Well, it's back. All Points West is embarking on its second year and they've just announced their initial lineup (which now includes comedy). Looks like the East Coast may have officially gotten its Coachella, and you might be headed to Jerz for a few nights.

Following Swoon's fleet of artistic boats sailing down the East River last summer, another troupe of local artists plans to up the ante later this year. The Brooklyn Paper reports that they're currently planning on living aboard an eco-friendly barge for the summer months in a colony they’re calling the Waterpod. On board there will be solar and wind-generated electricity, a "greenhouse made from recycled materials" and not much else. Whatever they can grow in there, or catch off the boat, will be all they're allowed to consume from May through October. During those months there will also be on-board lectures, screenings and art events. The paper reports that "when they aren’t farming, fishing, or tending to their proposed chicken coop, the artists aim to educate New Yorkers about global warming, the risks of rising sea levels, and the concept of self-sufficient, nomadic sea cities." The route hasn't yet been determined, but if you're wondering how much this endeavor is costing, the figure is around $800,000.

It appears that it will be more difficult for New Yorkers to use the Jersey Shore as an easy, affordable getaway as courts are restricting how much of the beach is available to the public. State legislators had been attempting to free up more beaches along the Shore, but appeals courts lately have been overturning them, leading to what the State Island Advance says "may add up to a confusing summer next year, with people unsure of which stretches of sand they're legally allowed to be on, and when they're allowed to be there. "People come down to the shore, decide to party, get tipsy, go for a swim at 2 in the morning, and if they drown, the first thing their family will do is sue the town because we allowed it," said Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi about laws forcing him to keep his beaches open all night. Let's just hope that the mayor of Belmar doesn't get involved in this again.

                      

Well, that's that. McCarren Pool – the giant Robert Moses-era landmark that's been revived as a music, theater, dance and film venue after decades of neglect – hosted its last free 'pool party' yesterday. The Bloomberg administration has allocated $50 million to renovate the pool for swimming, restore the historic bathhouse building, and build a year-round recreation center that is to include a skate park and an ice rink.

Well, according to the NY Times, he's busy with his consulting firm Giuliani Partners, working on his upcoming Republican National Convention appearance, and getting ready for next week's Democratic National Convention (to respond to any Dem statements). And he's not crying over the spilled milk of his presidential campaign. A former aide described Giuliani, post-New Hampshire, “Once the campaign was over, he was happy to let go. When the decision was made to concede, 90 percent of the questions were about how to do it in a way that would help McCain. He didn’t spend a lot of time on the couch, down in the dumps.” And maybe when the national election is over, he'll have time to think about Albany.

Sort of. After eleven days of at or below normal temperatures, a huge high pressure system that covers the entire country east of the Rockies and north of Florida, will bring sunny, warm weather back to New York today. The high on this increasingly humid day should be in the upper 80s if not 90 degrees. Hailing the possible return of the 90 degree mark we made a graph!

How has the summer been treating straphangers underground? Allegedly, the subway system's air conditioning is cooling everyone off...everyone except those taking the E train.

Same old weather story again today. It's summertime and you've got to go up to the Arctic to even see mildly cold air. Without any big temperature differences the atmosphere slows way down. Consequently, it'll be warm and humid again today, enough so to trigger an air quality alert for this afternoon. Whether the high stays in the mid 80s or reaches 90 depends on how soon the clouds arrive this afternoon.

Hazy, hot and humid are today's buzzwords. The weak cold front that was responsible for the thunder and lightning (note: lightning safety tips) that brushed the city yesterday should scuttle across the metro region later today. The high should reach the upper 80s before the front passes. There's a slight chance of scattered showers this afternoon and evening.

          

"spectacular" by i'mjustsayin on flickr

There is no meteorological definition for thick air but Gothamist thinks today would qualify. So far it has been a cloudy, foggy, misty, muggy and rainy day. Throw in a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon and we've got a summer soup! The thunderstorms could be severe. Hail, damaging winds, heavy rain and frequent lightning are possible through about 10 p.m. or so. A flash flood watch is in effect for areas north and west of the city. Today's high will be in the low 80s.

Yesterday was the longest day of the year, and it seems most New Yorkers just went along their business. Except some Wiccans who gathered in the East Village, who held a "hush-hush" event for "people in the coven."

Today's weather is shaping up to be the same as every previous day this week. Sunny in the morning, clouding up in the afternoon. With the clouds comes a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. For a little variety today may warm to the upper 70s.

June 30th, Hud

If "butter" flavored popcorn and Sour Patch Kids aren’t your ideal movie snack food, then you'll probably find the New York City Food Film Festival much more palatable. Starting Saturday at Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, Queens, the festival will pair 18 movies with relevant munchies under the night sky. George Motz, who started the festival last year with chef Harry Hawk, says he wanted to create “a cinematic scratch 'n sniff where you can not only watch a food film but eat the food being shown in that film.” Which explains why Sweeney Todd isn't being screened.

Andrew Kuo's charts are charmingly confusing, and his latest in the NY Times find their roots in his first summer festival: Lollapalooza '92 in New Jersey. Since then, he's learned a lot, and he's charted the knowledge for all who need some guidance as this summer's fests inch up on the calendar.