Northeast Heat Wave Continues; Relief is in Sight

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com
AccuWeather.com reports a blazing heat wave will continue to grip portions of the Northeast through the end of the week. The heat will again challenge records, strain power grids and pose health hazards.
Triple-digit heat will expand from Augusta, Ga., to Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia, Pa., and Trenton, N.J., today. New York City will flirt with the century mark, while highs soar into the 90s elsewhere across the Northeast.
The heat wave caused numerous record highs to be set on Tuesday, and that will likely occur again today.
Adding to the danger of the heat will be the presence of higher humidity. AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures will rise above actual temperatures as a result, and people will become more susceptible to heat-related illnesses.
When high humidity is in place, the body is not able to cool itself as quickly as when the dew points are lower.
To combat the heat, many people are cranking up their air conditioners. That, however, has and will continue to put a strain on power grids.
CNN.com reported that as many as 9,000 customers lost power in Stamford, Conn., on Tuesday. A heat-related transformer failure at a substation led to the outage.
Not all of the Northeast will endure sizzling temperatures. Air flowing in from the ocean will prevent temperatures from cracking the 90-degree mark along the New England coastline. This includes Boston and Portland.
The westward spread of this ocean air will reach more of the I-95 Northeast Thursday, but interior areas will continue to suffer through the end of the week.
Despite a decrease in actual temperatures in some locations, these areas will still have to endure high humidity. The high humidity will keep the air uncomfortable. In fact, humidity levels could be at their highest level of the siege Thursday and Friday.
As humidity levels rise, so will the coverage of thunderstorms across the Northeast.