Deadly heatwave moves east across United States

Deadly heatwave moves east across United States

By Michelle Nichols (taken from The Scotsman)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A potentially deadly heatwave struck parts of the eastern United States on Tuesday with the mercury threatening to top 100 F (38 C), but power grid operators said the increased demand could be met.

The heatwave is moving across the country from California, which suffered through more than two weeks of triple-digit temperatures that killed at least 136 people and caused power failures.

Meteorologists forecast 100 degree Fahrenheit temperatures for New York, Philadelphia and Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday. Residents of Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago were sweating it out in equally stifling temperatures.

"It is miserably hot outside and hard on everyone," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters. "This is a very dangerous heatwave. It's really more than just uncomfortable, it can seriously threaten your lives."

The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings and said the heat index -- how hot it feels when the humidity is combined with the air temperature -- was due to hit 115 F (46 C) in New York on Wednesday.

"If people do not take precautions, we could be looking at a significant number of fatalities," said Gary Conte, the weather service's warning coordinator meteorologist, adding that New York City had not suffered such a string of hot temperatures since July 1999.

"The forecasted temperatures and heat indices (in 1999) were pretty close to what we're looking at now. The impact from that event resulted in 43 deaths in New York City and New Jersey with rolling blackouts, buckled roads and so forth."

The National Weather Service said more than 50 temperature records had been set in the central and western United States in the past two weeks.

"The persistence of the unusually hot temperatures has made the past month one of the warmest since records began in 1895 for the contiguous U.S.," the weather service said.

Meteorologists are analyzing data to determine if July 2006 has surpassed July 1936 to become the hottest on record.

'JUST TOO HOT'

New York City has opened hundreds of air conditioned "cooling centers" for people to take refuge in and extended hours at public swimming pools, while urging the public not to open fire hydrants.

"It's too hot. It's hard to work, but we have to suffer to make a living," said Tajdar Sayed, who has been selling fruit from a street stand near New York's Times Square for 15 years. "It's a little bit slower than usual because it's too hot."