For a week that began with some of the hottest temperatures in years — so hot that dozens sought care in New York’s emergency rooms — the weather on Friday across much of the Northeast United States was downright pleasant.
Temperatures from Washington, D.C., to Bangor, Maine, were expected to remain temperate and close to or slightly below average for the season on Friday before warming up again slightly through the weekend. But even Saturday’s expected highs, in the upper 80s in New York and low 70s in Boston, are a steep drop from the 100-degree temperatures the areas endured on Tuesday.
Tuesday was the warmest day in Central Park in over a decade, and Kennedy Airport and Logan International Airport in Boston both set June records of 102 degrees. The heat lingered into Wednesday before it dropped dramatically on Thursday, reaching as low as the 60s through Friday morning.
It’s enough to give your closet whiplash.
After a cooler-than-normal spring, the sweaters were swiftly cast aside at the start of this week as shorts and tank tops came to rule the day. According to Weather Watching, a website that uses a camera and artificial intelligence to track the clothing people wear on the streets of New York, 70 percent of the people it saw on Tuesday were wearing shorts. By Friday, the situation had reversed, with 75 percent wearing pants and 56 percent wearing long sleeves.
Fans of beach weekends need not fear: temperatures will rise to the upper 80s in New York this weekend.
Cities like Boston and those farther north will remain close to average until Monday, when another warmer spell takes over the Northeast.
“Warmer” is relative: Monday and Tuesday won’t get nearly as hot as they did during this week’s record-breaking temperatures, though the humidity will still make it feel unpleasant for a while.
Over the next week, as cool dry and warm moist air masses move around, there will be periods of nicer weather, but also muggier spells right through the Fourth of July holiday weekend. There will also be at least some chance of summer showers or thunderstorms most days.
Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times who forecasts and covers extreme weather.
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