The temperatures during this pandemic summer just won't let up, as another heat wave settles into NYC this weekend, bringing temperatures that feel close to 100 degrees.
The heat spell comes on the heels of a scorcher that saw record-breaking temperatures across the five boroughs last week, prompting the Office of Emergency Operations to issue warnings to remain cool to ride out the blistering weather. Forecasts starting this Sunday show a high temperature of 93 degrees on Sunday, 96 on Monday, and 94 on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. A report by the New York Times says this summer will likely be the hottest on record.
One way to beat the heat is by taking a dip into one of the city's eight newly-reopened pools, which Mayor Bill de Blasio announced will service New Yorkers. They include:
- Mullaly Pool, Highbridge, Bronx
- Sunset Park, Brooklyn
- Kosciuszko Pool, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
- Wagner, East Harlem
- Liberty, Jamaica, Queens
- Fisher, East Elmhurst, Queens
- Tottenville, Staten Island
- Lions in Tompkinsville, Staten Island
Seven more city pools are scheduled to be opened on August 1st. Some New York City residents didn't wait for de Blasio to reopen pools, as in the case of Washington Heights residents Joshua Torres, who got creative during the first heat wave by setting up a humongous curbside pool in the neighborhood, telling the Wall Street Journal he wanted to "do something for the community."
However, the police shut it down after five sweet days of bliss:
Which means there isn't a pool for the community, since de Blasio did not allow Highbridge Pool near Washington Heights,to reopen this weekend. The decision to keep it closed earned scorn from Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents the neighborhood, saying it would "boost morale in the neighborhood."
NY State Park's pools have reopened, including Riverbank State Park in Harlem, Roberto Clemente State Park in the Bronx, and Jones Beach on Long Island.
Con Edison, whose record in managing NYC's electrical grid has been spotty during sweltering days, said in a tweet it's "prepared for heat wave 2.0" though the utility company offered no specifics in the way of how it'll manage greater demand with more air conditioners running. It has recommended customers to report outages by going on its site.
"The company can take special steps, such as deploying generators to neighborhoods, to support reliability," read a statement from Con Edison's website. "To help prevent outages and reduce their duration and scope, the company manages voltage levels, cools transformers, and urges customers to conserve."
Keep in mind, Con Ed asked over 100,000 customers in Queens to turn off their air-conditioning on Wednesday, July 21st.
On top of pools, and beaches that reopened for swimming on July 1st, there are 145 cooling centers that are operational, providing free air conditioning spaces to call off. A list of cooling centers can be found here.
