Hot, Muggy Weather Hits New York; Air Quality Alert Issued
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork / AP) - It's the heart of summer, when people can't wait to get outside. But, today might be a day to limit your time in the sun.
WCBS 880's Paul Murnane On The Upper East Side
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As hot, muggy weather coupled with air pollution blankets eastern New York, state health and environmental officials are urging people with asthma and other respiratory troubles to limit strenuous outdoor activity.
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The Health Department and Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality health advisory for the New York Metro region and Hudson Valley for Wednesday from 11 a.m. through 11 p.m.
Officials issue such advisories when meteorologists predict levels of pollution, either ozone or fine particulate matter, are expected to exceed an Air Quality Index value of 100. The pollutant of concern now is ground-level ozone, which builds up when summer heat combines with automobile exhaust and out-of-state emission sources.
WCBS 880's Marla Diamond At A Manhattan Hospital
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Dr. Patricia Carey, director of the emergency department at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, has a warning for anyone with respiratory problems.
"They are very sensitive to triggers - sometimes allergens or sometimes pollutants in the atmosphere - which will make their disease suddenly get much worse," she says.
She also warns excercisers, even avid ones, that won't sweating won't help shed more pounds.
"In fact, excessive sweating and that feeling of light-headedness means that something's wrong and you're overdoing it," she says.
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Not only is it hot, but it's garbage day in places such as the Upper East Side, and like a New Yorker in a summer traffic jam, this stuff has been sitting and stewing its own juices.
In such weather, Gil, who has been hauling all of this out to curb for collection, fights back.
"I usually wear a dust mask," Gil told WCBS 880 reporter Paul Murnane. "It does help, a little bit."
Like the trash at the curb, this hot weather won't be with us forever.
