Paramedics in Washington, D.C., burned through their supply of ice packs on Tuesday, and residents cranked up the air-conditioning as far north as Maine, as parts of the East Coast endured the hottest day in over a decade.
Central Park in New York City hit 99 degrees by 1:30 p.m., the warmest temperature recorded there since 2012, and kept climbing. Other cities along the Atlantic Seaboard reached similar marks, with Logan International Airport in Boston hitting 100 — the hottest ever recorded for the date — and temperatures soaring into the triple digits from Florida to New Hampshire.
Scorching early-summer heat has become more common in recent years as climate change drives global temperatures past record levels. But that doesn’t make it any easier to cope with, especially in places that weren’t built for long, hot summers. Here’s how people in some of the sweltering cities dealt with the heat on Tuesday.
Washington, D.C.
It was only morning but the temperature was already close to 100 degrees, and Jared Snyderman, the emergency medical services supervisor on duty for one of the city’s firehouses, raced to respond to one of several heat-related calls that he would receive throughout the day.
This time the call involved a young woman and her toddler, out in a stroller. Mr. Snyderman and the other emergency workers who responded said they were down to their last few ice packs. They placed one on the toddler’s torso and gave a second to the young woman. “We’re not going to let the child die,” said Mr. Snyderman, 38.
Over the next two hours, he was summoned to assist four more first responder crews around the city, all of them handling heat-related medical conditions.
Raleigh, N.C.
Biking through the city’s sweltering downtown on Tuesday morning, Lisimba Moyenda charted a path through his mental map of the city’s free water stations.
A musician and freelance stagehand, Mr. Moyenda, 58, said he often biked 30 miles a day to get to his various jobs. As the temperature in Raleigh climbed toward 100 degrees, the heat made his water breaks all the more necessary.
“It’s a challenge,” Mr. Moyenda said as he stopped at the water cooler in front of the Raleigh Rescue Mission to refill his empty bottle. “But I’m built for it.”
Charlottesville, Va.
Kateryna Verbitska has performed with her cello in at least 30 countries, by her own count. But on Tuesday, the classically trained musician from Ukraine serenaded the Downtown Mall neighborhood in Charlottesville, Va., for a sweltering audience of passers-by.
Ms. Verbitska, 35, says she has made her living as a street performer since fleeing her home after the 2022 Russian invasion. But rarely has she faced challenging conditions like these.
Heat can soften the horsehair on her bow, making it difficult to keep the cello in tune, she said, typing her answers to a reporter’s questions using Google Translate on her phone. And on cooler days, passers-by linger, increasing the chance that they’ll enjoy the music and leave a donation.
On hotter ones, though, fewer people stop and collections dip. Still, she plays.
Augusta, Maine
Paul Heron and Kim Jackson parked their van at an Augusta apartment complex at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. It was the first of five stops they make each weekday to deliver summer breakfasts and lunches to schoolchildren.
It was already 90 degrees outside.
Ms. Jackson, 59, said 15 more children at the apartment complex were picking up meals than on Monday. She believed the heat was probably driving some of the extra demand.
Jocelynne Sylvester, 34, who lives in the complex, said she was planning to keep her children in her air-conditioned apartment for most of the day. She’s worried about the extra cost, but she said it was worth it on a day like this.
“I feel bad for the people that don’t have anywhere to go,” she said.
Newark
Sweat ran down Luis Leitao’s face as he led his dog, Bella, through the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark on Tuesday. Bella’s tongue lolled out of her mouth as the pair walked down the block, with the heat index creeping into the triple digits.
Mr. Leitao said that it took a certain amount of grit to endure summers in Newark, a city that has long been considered an urban heat island. A previous job working at Port Newark taught him a lot about working in the heat, he said.
His advice for his neighbors on how to handle the soaring temperatures was blunt.
“Just suck it up,” he said as he led Bella back home, where her water dish was waiting. “They’re tearing up the trees for redevelopment, so it’s only going to get worse.”
Chris Hippensteel reports on breaking news across the United States.
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