Get Ready: 90+ Degree Days, Triple-Digit Heat Indices Return This Week
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If you have been enjoying the comparatively comfortable days the Tri-State Area has seen this weekend, don't get too used to it.
CBS 2 Meteorologist Vanessa Murdock reported Sunday morning that the high for Sunday was expected to hit 89 degrees, with a heat index that will make it feel like 95 degrees or more.
As of around 3:15 p.m., the temperature read in at 86 degrees in Central Park.
But compared with the week to come, that's nothing. The forecast will get very steamy as we head toward midweek, with heat indices yet again making it feel like the triple digits.
Get Ready: 90+ Degree Days, Triple-Digit Heat Indices Return This Week
A damp air mass is hovering over the area as the temperature rises, and rise it will. The high for Monday is 93 – with a heat index making it feel like 100 or more. The high climbs to 94 on Tuesday, 96 on Wednesday, and down a degree to 95 on Thursday – with heat indices making it feel like 105 on each of those days.
On average in July, there should be six 90 degree days in the Tri-State Area. So far, there have been three this year, but five more are expected –bringing a total of eight by the end of this week.
But it's not as if such hot temperatures are unheard of, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported. Murdock said last year, there were actually 10 90-degree days in July.
And last year wasn't the record either.
"In 1993, there were 20 days of extreme heat," Murdock told Hall. "That is the hottest July I have noted."
Since the July heat took hold, doctors have seen cases where heat exhaustion and even more severe conditions sneak up on people -- especially those with chronic conditions and senior citizens.
Get Ready: 90+ Degree Days, Triple-Digit Heat Indices Return This Week
"Anytime you start feeling ill in the heat, feeling weak, nausea, feel like you may pass out, those kinds of things, it's important at that moment to get out of the heat to get into a cool environment," said Dr. Jeffrey Rabrich of St. Luke's Hospital.
On Sunday afternoon New Yorkers were out trying their own methods of beating the heat.
"I'm swimming," Marco told 1010 WINS reporter Gene Michaels in between dips at Astoria Pool.
Others had to spend the day at work.
"Yeah, it's hard when you get off a busy Saturday night and then you get on the subway and you're like oh my God, I can't wait to get home," chef Gavin McCutcheon told CBS 2's Dave Carlin.
Experts emphasize that drinking plenty of water is imperative in a heat wave, along with limiting strenuous activity, wearing light-colored clothing, using sunscreen, and staying indoors if possible.
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