Central Park touches 96°F (35.5°C), matching 1888 record
NEW YORK — Central Park reached a scorching 96°F (35.5°C) on Monday, matching a temperature record set on this date in 1888. Across the Eastern United States, the relentless heat wave is pushing infrastructure, health systems, and communities to their limits.
In New Jersey, more than 150 people were treated for heat-related illnesses during graduation ceremonies in Paterson, with 16 transported to the ER in stable condition, according to Fire Chief Alejandro Alicea. In Baltimore, passengers aboard a stalled Amtrak train were trapped for over an hour in oppressive heat, some without functioning air conditioning. “I honestly thought I was going to collapse,” said Laura Evans, a rider on the train.
Monday’s sweltering conditions are part of an extremely dangerous heat dome intensifying across the eastern half of the country. The National Weather Service placed around 150 million people under heat alerts, as temperatures soar 15 to 20 degrees above normal and overnight cooling remains elusive.
Tuesday is forecast to bring the peak of this extreme heat, with daytime highs expected to break additional records from Philadelphia to Boston. Many cities are experiencing their hottest June temperatures in decades, with some nearing all-time records for any month.
Washington, DC is bracing for three consecutive days above 100°F (37.8°C), a level typically not seen until mid-July. Philadelphia is expected to hit 101°F (38.3°C) on Tuesday, approaching its hottest June day ever. Boston could reach a staggering 102°F (38.9°C), potentially the highest June temperature in city history.
Even far-northern New England isn’t spared. Burlington, Vermont, located just 40 miles from the Canadian border, reached 97°F (36.1°C) Monday — making it one of the three hottest June days on record there.
The heat is having immediate, visible impacts on infrastructure. Roads in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri buckled under the extreme temperatures. Heat expansion is also straining the nation’s railways and airports. Amtrak warned of “temperature-related speed restrictions”, while some planes may face takeoff delays due to hot, less-dense air.
In the nation’s capital, the Washington Monument was closed Monday and Tuesday due to the Extreme Heat Warning, according to the National Park Service.
As of early Tuesday, over 48,000 homes and businesses were without electricity across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey — a drop from more than 100,000 outages reported on Monday, per PowerOutage.us.
Meteorologists warn this heat wave is likely just the beginning. The Climate Prediction Center expects a hotter-than-normal summer across nearly all of the Lower 48, with July and August poised to bring even higher temperatures.
The rising frequency and duration of heat waves is one of the clearest impacts of human-caused climate change, with nighttime temperatures increasing even faster than daytime highs — offering less recovery time and greater risk for heat stress, especially for children, the elderly, and individuals with chronic health conditions.
