Heat Wave Blankets Much of U.S., Threatens Grids

(CBS/AP)  Updated at 6:53 p.m. ET

The East Coast cooked under an unforgiving sun Tuesday as record-toppling temperatures soared to 100 or higher from Virginia to Massachusetts, utility companies cranked out power to cool the sweating masses and the unlucky sought any oasis they could find.

The temperature hit 103 degrees in New York City and 102 in Philadelphia, breaking records for the day, both set in 1999. The temperature also soared past the century mark in Boston, Washington and Newark, N.J., and broke records in Providence, R.I., and Hartford, Conn.

"It's a once in decade heat wave with what we're seeing here," Accuweather forecaster Bernie Rayno tells CBS News.

CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports that power outages affected some areas of Northern New Jersey with about 17,000 people left without air conditioning or lights for a period of time on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday, for many New Yorkers, the power system stress rekindled fears of what happened in 2003, when a massive failure left 45 million people in eight states without power all night long, triggered not by a heat wave but by a single tree falling in Ohio that led to a cascading blackout, Glor reports. After that, stricter rules were put in place.

CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports that heat stroke is a very serious condition which requires immediate medical help and that those especially at risk include the very young, the elderly and people with underlying medical problems. Symptoms include high temperature, dizziness and confusion

LaPook advises people to drink plenty of non-alcoholic, non-sugery fluids, especially after waking up in the morning.

In downtown Philadelphia, pedestrians and drivers appeared to move a little more slowly amid the high humidity, blazing sun and baking sidewalks. Robert McCarron, 44, wore a navy suit and tie as he walked four blocks from a downtown subway station to an office building where he was due for a job interview.

"If I was going to a job, you'd better believe I wouldn't be wearing a suit," he said. "This is rough, and it's only going to get hotter."

After an extended Fourth of July weekend when temperatures inched into at least the 90s from Maine to Texas, The National Weather Service issued heat advisories until Wednesday night for much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, including an excessive heat warning for the Philadelphia area.

With people cranking up their air conditioning, energy officials predicted near-record demand for power. Utilities and regional electrical system operators cited ample generation capacity and expected no major blackouts, though, and just a smattering of power failures were reported.

Even so, those without air conditioning were left to cope as they could. On the baking streets of the Bronx, 14-year-old Miguel Pena and 13-year-old Vincent Quiles walked their bicycles up a steep hill, white handkerchiefs around their heads to keep the sweat out of their eyes.

"Man, this stinks," Miguel said. "We just got out of school and this is supposed to be when we have fun, but this is too much. We thought it would be cooler on the bike, but now we're going home. It's just too hot."

Added Vincent: "You can't breathe out here."

The hot air is "sitting over the top of us, and it's not really going to budge much for the next day or two," said Brian Korty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Camp Springs, Md. After that, he said, a system coming in off the Atlantic Ocean would bring in cooler weather.

Authorities in some places Tuesday began calling the hot stretch a heat wave, a phenomenon defined by at least three consecutive days of temperatures of 90 or above. Newark handily beat that threshold Tuesday, hitting at least 100 for the third day in a row.

It was so hot that even machines had to slow down. Transportation officials cut the speed of commuter trains in suburban Washington when the tracks got too hot because extreme heat can cause welded rails to bend under pressure.

Workers at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, N.J., used tubs of ice cubes to help four sick or weak seals keep cool.

It wasn't much easier on animal lovers. In Massachusetts, Katie Wright was determined to follow through on her promise to take her children to a zoo.

"It's pretty ridiculous," Wright said as her 3-year-old son Jackson and 2-year-old daughter Emery watched owls and hawks at the Massachusetts Audubon's Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln. "But we wanted to get out, so we brought hats, sunscreen, extra water and then promised the kids lunch at an air-conditioned restaurant."

At his Manhattan newsstand, a steel kiosk that soaks up sun like a sponge, vendor Sam Doctor said the only way to keep cool was to splash his head with water, but he acknowledged that his system wouldn't last. Both of his soda-cooling refrigerators had already conked out by midmorning.

"When it's 100 degrees out there, it's 110 in here," he said, still smiling as he served customers.

In Philadelphia, where the temperature was in the 80s before 7 a.m., 45-year-old Davey Adams waited in a subway station that was stagnant even before the morning commute began in earnest. He had spent the weekend in air-conditioned bliss at his son's house in New Jersey but had to return to his job Tuesday as a forklift driver in a warehouse.

He said he planned to use "cold water and a washcloth" draped over his head to keep cool.

In New York, 13 firefighters were treated at a hospital after suffering dehydration and exhaustion while battling a blaze in Queens. The 42-year-old lieutenant governor of Massachusetts spent Monday night in a hospital after marching in five parades in 90-degree heat.

Deaths blamed on the heat included a 92-year-old Philadelphia woman whose body was found Monday and a homeless woman found lying next to a car Sunday in suburban Detroit.

In Washington, where the thermometer climbed to 100 degrees by mid-afternoon, President Obama warned reporters about to leave the Oval Office: "Stay cool out there. Hydrate."

Even the queen of England had to cope after landing in New York during the hottest part of the day on her first visit to the city in more than three decades. The 84-year-old monarch addressed the United Nations, then paid tribute to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

[Hereigns7]

The Gulf oil spill, hurricanes, and the recent heat wave, which could threaten the electric grids, have many searching for answers. The internet is buzzing with articles and excellent blogs. But could it be simply the biblical sequence of God's wrath being poured out upon the earth which is relevant to current events in today's world? What if we are dealing with the wrath of God? Please visit my blog at http://www.danielsblog.org Author of the book Final Warning

[cbsblogger]

I agree that Jimmy Carter had necessary foresight and was not blinded by corporate interests or by those Arabs and Israeli Lobby who wanted us perpetually in the Middle East.

Even today our government is pushing corporate centralized solar energy that will negatively impact the environment and further load the grid. What we need is a diversified distributed energy plan that utilizes the existing footprint of our residential and commercial structures, instead of taking many many raw acres of desert and farmland to ruin and add solar arrays and windmills.

[fedup12]

Do a search on Peak Oil. We are in trouble. Make up your own mind for a change.


We need to diversify our energy portfolio NOW!!! Not later.

[thejoker12]

how can ity bity New England be much of the U.S.? California is bigger and there are at least 40 more states to include. When it rises to 115 then you can talk about heat.

[troutfishyman]

The GOP claimed snowstorms of this past winter proved that global warming does not exist. So I guess a heatwave proves it does exist. LOL

[RoboBlogger]

you call 103 hot? try living in AZ or NV where temps could soar up to the 120s and not factoring in humidity. when 110/115 starts tickling you let me know.

[Chimney_fish]

humidity???? in AZ or NV........come down to Fla some time.....lol

[newsterI]

by AlwaysSmiling
louiville, do you drive every minute while you're not working? If you work from 9 to 5 (for example) and arrive home at 7 every night, and leave at 7 every morning, you can plug the car in at 9 or 10 and have more than enough charge to "get home".

Yeah, you and 50 million OTHER drivers ALL plugging in at the same time during "off peak" time changes the picture to a new ON peak- nighttime after work when everyone plugs their cars in.

"Plus most of the electric cars are on trickle chargers. That's why it takes 8 hours or so for a full charge. They're probably pulling about as much electricity as your oven (if even that much)."

Multipled by 50 million others and the grid which is already overtaxed is sunk. Don't forget that every year the population increases, that will mean MORE cars on the road, MORE power required every month.

What we NEED is population control, ONE child per couple till we get back to pre 1950's level which was less than half what it is now- 150 million.

[SimpleJewishMan]

Below was a good comment - why the deletion ??
___________________________________

Study the ?Little Ice Age? that lasted from
the 16th to 18th century and caused millions of deaths
from crop failures & disease,
and
you'll realize that global cooling has
the potential of being thousands of times worse
than global warming


The question then needs to be asked:

What if the increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere
is actually PREVENTING a global catastrophe by keeping
temperatures from falling, which results in
scientifically proven crop failures & disease ??


Also,
consider potential BENEFITS of global warming

- Warmer winters are healthier,
sickness due to cold winters kills millions

? Warmer winters may create a boon to shipping
by opening up the NorthWest Passage

? Warmer periods in human history have been closely
associated with great advances in the arts & sciences
(the Renaissance occurred after the "Little Ice Age")

? Warmer winters & longer growing seasons will lead
to a significant increase in food production
(AS A RECENT U.N. STUDY ADMITTED)


Food for thought, literally

[curse914]

Since you are going to putting forth anecdotal "evidence", allow me the chance to do the same.

A warming ocean kills coral, turning verdant waters into dead zone. Polio is making a comeback in warmer water...bet you did not know that is thrives in warmer coastal waters. A deadly fungus is spreading in the North West, fueled by warmer weather. And the biggest threat is less dissolved oxygen in warmer water which kills everything; this is science, genius, not myth.

The jets are shifting and rain patterns are changing. Previously arable land is becoming arid and other land floods with unpredictable destruction and ferocity. What makes you think farming defrosted tundra could ever replace the stability of an interglacial period (Holocene)? You know, the period in which man transcending cave dwelling, well, at least my ancestors did, yours most likely road on the coat tails of others. Even if you only believe we have been here 6,000 years (and I hope you have the good sense to know otherwise), that is 6,000 years of stable interglacial climate.

[displeased]

---What if the increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere
is actually PREVENTING a global catastrophe by keeping
temperatures from falling, which results in
scientifically proven crop failures & disease ??
by SimpleJewishMan July 6, 2010 2:48 PM EDT

From my understanding and simply put, the earth will react to heat by cooling. The hotter the earth gets, the bigger the reaction to fix it (more severe ice age).


---Warmer winters are healthier,
sickness due to cold winters kills millions
by SimpleJewishMan July 6, 2010 2:48 PM EDT

I disagree. I think diseases thrive in warmer weather. Not to mention cold snaps kill more insects, such as mosquitoes and ticks.


---Warmer periods in human history have been closely
associated with great advances in the arts & sciences
(the Renaissance occurred after the "Little Ice Age")
by SimpleJewishMan July 6, 2010 2:48 PM EDT

I'm sure the transition from the dark and middle ages to the Renaissance didn't occur because of the weather. It had something to do with the decline of the Catholic Church, which was responsible for the lack of intellectual and economic progress, and it was fed by the rise of the money economy.

[sepa2]

Had we taken Carter's energy proposals seriously in 1980 we would have a wide network of solar (both light and heat)conversion system in operation by now and days like these would have no bearing. But Reagan and shortsighted public made sure it did not happened

[cbsblogger]

I agree that Jimmy Carter had necessary foresight and that was not blinded by corporate interests or by Arabs and the Israeli Lobby who wanted us perpetually in the Middle East.

Even today our government is pushing for corporate centralized solar energy that will negatively impact the environment and further load the grid. What we need is a diversified distributed energy plan that utilizes the existing footprint of our residential and commercial structures, instead of taking many many raw acres of desert and farmland to ruin and add solar arrays and windmills. Diversified provides energy security during a national emergency such as hurricane or earthquake.

[consciousnes]

Where was all this attention last week when it was hot in the Midwest?

[I_am_me1953]

It doesn't matter until it effects you personally.