New York, Northeast Get Cool Relief After One More Day of Heat

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. East Coast will only have to wilt under the thumb of an oppressive heat wave for one more day before temperatures plummet and relief is heralded by heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Heat combined with high humidity created a potential deadly mix of oppressive conditions across the central and eastern U.S. for the past few days, canceling outdoor activities and sending energy use rocketing up. While all-time records didn’t fall, records for the date were set at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where readings reached 99 degrees Fahrenheit, and in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“Today, across New England and the mid-Atlantic this will be the last day,” said Rich Otto, a forecaster with the U.S. Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. “The relief is coming from the west.”

Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings on Sunday stretched from Oklahoma to Ohio and along the East Coast from Maine to South Carolina. The combination of high temperatures and humidity would make it feel as hot as 110 degrees in New York and Washington. Some spots could even feel warmer.

Pools, Triathlons

A triathlon scheduled for the weekend in New York was called off, along with a 10-mile (16-kilometer) marathon training run in Central Park. Public swimming pools run by the city’s Parks Department are staying open for an extra hour. Horse racing was canceled on Saturday at the Saratoga Race Course, about 180 miles north of the city. It’s been 13 years since extreme heat caused that to happen, the New York Racing Association said.

Relief has already arrived in Chicago, where Sunday’s high was only set to reach 76 degrees down from 95 on Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

High temperatures across the Great Plains and Midwest will fall 10 to 20 degrees below normal as the front passes, Otto said.

“It will be significantly cooler than what they have been seeing,” Otto said. “That cool weather is going to stick around for a good part of this week.”

Readings in the mid-Atlantic, New York and New England also will drop about 10 degrees below normal. The cool weather will reach deep into the U.S. South as well, said Jim Rouiller, chief meteorologist at the Energy Weather Group near Philadelphia.

Southern Surge

“The cold front responsible for a strong cool down that will occur next week is currently tracking southeastward across the Upper Plains, Great Lakes and Midwest and will reach the Southeast and Deep South by Wednesday,” Rouiller said. He added it’s "very unusual for a summer cold front to surge so far the south.”

As the front passes it will be trigger heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms that could raise flash flooding concerns particularly from West Virginia to New Jersey, Otto said. That region has received a lot of rain in past weeks and it won’t take much to swell streams and rivers.

“It is definitely a very juicy air mass,” Otto said.

As the subsides in the U.S., it will surge across Europe. Temperatures will reach 34 Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) in London by Wednesday, up from 21 on Sunday, according to the Met Office. Paris is forecast to be as hot as 38 degrees Celsius by the middle of the week, while Madrid is already baking in almost 40-degree heat.

--With assistance from Justina Lee, David R. Baker and Will Wade.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tina Davis at tinadavis@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Matthew G. Miller

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