Long Island swelters in record September heat, with more predicted for Thursday

Long Island will swelter again Thursday with temperatures near 90 degrees and humid, sticky air making it feel hotter. 

The second straight day of high heat means that municipal cooling centers will open again and school sports practices and games, postponed Wednesday over health concerns, are again in jeopardy.

Coming on the heels of what scientists say was the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer ever measured, Wednesday’s heat broke two regional records set in 1985, with highs recorded at 92 degrees in Islip and 93 degrees at JFK Airport, according to the National Weather Service. It was even hotter in some places beyond those weather stations.

The normal high for Wednesday was 78, the weather service said.

Thursday temperatures were expected to reach 88, with record high temperatures expected at some sites, according to the weather service, and meteorologists have extended a heat advisory for Nassau County and Western Suffolk. That advisory, which warned of "increased risk of heat-related illness for vulnerable populations," had already been extended to Thursday for New York City, parts of the Lower Hudson Valley, New Jersey and Connecticut.

 "We had a couple hot days earlier in the year. But not for this long, not for this length of time," said Jay Engel, a meteorologist at the Weather Service's Upton station.

The worst of Thursday’s heat was predicted for noon to 8 p.m., with the heat index — what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature — reaching 96 degrees in Syosset, 95 in Stony Brook and 79 in Montauk. 

Higher humidity means it is harder for the body to cool itself by sweating. When the index is between 90 and 103, the weather service advises “extreme caution” because of the risk of heat stroke, heat cramps and possible heat exhaustion possible with prolonged exposure or physical activity.

This week’s heat on Long Island followed heat waves earlier this summer in the Midwest and Southwest, where Phoenix, Arizona experienced a record-setting 31 days of temperatures at or above 110 degrees. 

“It’s not just us that’s experiencing this, it’s all parts of the country,” said Kevin Reed, associate dean for research and associate professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. Heat waves have become more common in the last 40 years, and more extreme, he said. “That’s something we anticipate to worsen in the future” as background climate warms “significantly,” he said. “These are telltale signs of climate change.” 

The proximate cause of Long Island’s misery, though, was a lingering high pressure system that produced days of very little rain and clear blue skies. “There’s more energy hitting the earth’s surface from the sun, because we don’t have the clouds to block it,” Reed said. “It’s additive.” 

Temperatures will dip to the low 80s Friday, with rain predicted through the weekend, according to the weather service and more seasonable temperatures forecast for next week. 

Some towns told their residents this week that municipal buildings would turn into respite centers. In Southold, Town Supervisor Scott Russell said town officials were keeping the Peconic School open as a cooling center for a second day.

“Friends, neighbors and families should check on others who might be more vulnerable,” he said, adding “we have a lot of people of limited means” who might be without air conditioning, or reluctant to run it because of the cost, along with residents who might have mobility issues. 

“We have no choice but to accept that we are going to be in for some very unstable weather events,” he said. “We’re not going to be immune.” 

In Hempstead, Town Supervisor Don Clavin said town senior centers are open daily to anyone who wants to cool off, and hundreds of people visited town beaches Wednesday. Beaches are open through Sept. 24 and temperatures there are significantly cooler than they are inland, he said. “If I could move Town Hall to Point Lookout, I would have.”

With AP