Heat advisory issued for swath from New England to the Deep South.
In the Mid-Atlantic, already the locus for brutal temperatures several times in July, weather experts warned of the dangerous conditions and residents resigned themselves to coping with the discomfort.
In Central New York, where heat and humidity made for a soupy afternoon, people seemed to be coping. The nursing supervisor at Upstate University Hospital's emergency room said they had no heat-related cases so far today.
One possible weather-related death was reported in Maryland, where paramedics said the high temperatures and humidity likely played a role in the death of a 20-year-old man who was biking, went into cardiac arrest and hit his head on a tree as he fell.
With the heat and humidity combining for a possible heat index of over 110 degrees, the weather service issued an excessive heat warning for the first time this year for an area stretching from south of Washington to north of Baltimore, along the Interstate 95 corridor. By midday Saturday, a wide band from lower New England to the Deep South was under a heat advisory.
The thermometer hit 100 degrees in Washington and Baltimore by mid-afternoon, where the heat index was 109. In Norfolk, Va., it was 104 degrees and 108 degrees with the heat index. Elsewhere, temperatures reached 95 degrees in New York City and 96 in Philadelphia. Demand for electricity that rises with the temperatures falls when businesses and offices are closed on the weekend, and many utilities said they could meet the demand.
Many hit the beach for relief, though not all were there to soak up the sun. Jeff Clarkson, 47, and his 12-year-old son Chuck planned to hit the arcades along the Point Pleasant area boardwalk in New Jersey.
“I don’t want him out there too long ’cause it could be dangerous,” said the elder Clarkson, whose family was visiting from suburban Philadelphia. “But in here, we can spend time together and stay kind of cool, though it’s likely to cost me a lot of money by the time we’re through.”
Not much relief was in the forecast Sunday. Sunday’s highs were expected to reach into the low- to mid-90s, but heat indices should be slightly lower — in the high 90s, possibly as high as 101 in cities.