Record-Breaking Heat Wave Expected to Hit New York City Before July 4th Weekend
The heat is expected to heat up in New York City this week, as city officials grapple with how to keep construction workers, street vendors and other outdoor workers safe as the city’s summer heats up.
On Wednesday, according to National Weather Service forecasts, highs could jump to 97 degrees. On Thursday, temperatures are expected to reach 100 degrees, rising to 102 in the Bronx. Friday could bring a similar triple-digit scorcher, followed by a hot Independence Day holiday weekend with a chance for storms.
The last time there were back-to-back days when temperatures exceeded 100 degrees was 2011, according to the National Weather Service. Con Edison, the utility that serves most of New York and parts of Westchester County, has opened its own emergency response center.
“This is hot in Texas, which we don’t often see here, so it’s bad,” said Carolyn Olson, assistant commissioner for environmental monitoring and policy at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
There is more humidity in New York, which could push the heat index, or “feel like” temperatures, to 112 degrees this week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference Tuesday. The most important thing New Yorkers could do starting Wednesday, he and city department leaders said multiple times, was to stay indoors, air-conditioned, and look out for other New Yorkers.
On Monday, Mr. Mamdani ordered what City Hall called an “unprecedented, historic heating system.” Libraries, senior centers and other air-conditioned areas were designated as cooling areas to be opened for residents seeking shelter from flooded homes. City agencies are also preparing to set up outdoor cooling stations, and misting fans in areas where outdoor workers, including street vendors and food delivery people, meet regularly.
City Hall said most large public pools will be open an extra hour, until 8 p.m., and encouraged seniors to borrow a spray cap from a nearby firehouse to turn the fire extinguisher on their block into a sprinkler for children to play with.
Last week, Mr. Mamdani signed an executive order aimed at protecting people at risk of heatstroke, including about 93,000 people who work outside as street vendors, delivery workers and day laborers. Hundreds of thousands of others work as police and firemen, maintenance and repair workers, and in many other jobs that keep them in the sun for long periods of time.
On Tuesday, the mayor emphasized to employers that workers should not face the consequences of putting safety first. “Employees cannot relax when they have assignments to meet,” he said. “They can’t go into the air conditioner if they’re on the clock.”
The order directs city centers to examine how they can strengthen workplace protection. The Department of Buildings, for example, will review regulations to see if new safety requirements are needed to protect construction workers from heat exhaustion. The Department of Health will study workers’ compensation claims to look for heat-related patterns.
At a news conference announcing the mayor’s executive order last week, John Mosquera, who works at LaGuardia Airport, described loading bags onto a plane during a 10-hour flight on a hot day last summer. He began to see the stars. “I fainted and just lay on the belly of the plane because of its heat,” said Mr. Mosquera.
Someone woke him up, he said. “I had a short break with water and then I was sent back to work,” recalled Mr. Mosquera. “No one should fall because of the heat at work and expect to continue.”
The mayor’s executive committee also requires city agencies to develop programs to prevent heat-related illnesses for municipal employees who work indoors and outdoors.
This week in New York, a high-pressure system called a heat dome, which can reach 1,000 miles, is responsible for creating and containing heat. Beyond New York City, temperatures in Washington and Philadelphia could soar past 100 degrees. Hot days are expected across the Midwest, too.
In New York, city officials are expecting heat that could rival — or surpass — last year’s heat wave, which peaked on June 24, 2025, when the city entered its hottest day in 15 years. Central Park reached 99 degrees, and Kennedy Airport in Queens reached 102.
“We’re looking at what could be the second hottest day in New York City history in more than a decade,” said Mr. Mamdani.
New York City’s power grid should remain reliable this week, according to the latest report from the New York Independent System Operator, which regulates the flow of electricity in the state. The peak demand expected this summer remains well above New York’s record high, which was set 13 years ago.
Kevin Lanahan, the agency’s senior vice president of external affairs, said officials were documenting power cuts amid growing demand.
Energy experts say they are concerned that power lines are both overloaded and aging. Last summer, on June 24, several old fossil fuel plants failed, but officials used electricity supplies from the Midwest to meet demand.
The system problem that occurred that day happened at night, when the demand for electricity increased instead of decreasing, which was unusual, said Mr. Lanahan.
David Stark, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, warned that Thursday night, temperatures may not exceed the mid-80s, which could further disrupt the grid and pose a risk to some New Yorkers without air conditioning.
Christina Farrell, commissioner of the New York City Department of Emergency Management said: “As dangerous as the heat is during the day, there’s not going to be relief overnight. “That means the heat builds day by day, and the body doesn’t really get a chance to recover.”
The city’s cooling centers will only operate during the day, when the heat will be at its peak, although a few, like the one at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, will be open until 11 p.m. Centers and their hours can be found on the city’s Cool Options Map or by calling 311. Rules for taking shelter from the homeless will also be relaxed due to the heat. Separately, eight transportation areas that provide air conditioning and food overnight – different from the cooling areas – will be available. Night cooling options, other than emergency rooms, are not available in the city.
Many New York homes are old and tend to retain heat, meaning indoor temperatures can be higher than outside, and many customers struggle to pay for air conditioners, according to the nonprofit Public Utility Law Project. The city’s latest report on heat-related deaths said deaths fueled by 82-degree heat began to increase about a decade ago.
On average, seven people in New York City die each summer from the heat alone. Last year, it was reported that 21 people died, 19 of them due to the extreme heat of June.
It’s not just the record-breaking heat days that worry public health officials. More days are in the high 80s and low 90s than in previous decades. The number of days each summer with a high above 86 degrees has more than doubled over the past 50 years, rising to an average of 32 days from 14 days, according to the city’s Health Department.
Although thunderstorms are forecast for the weekend, rain isn’t expected to bring much relief: Temperatures in the 90s are forecast through Monday.
“We can’t stress enough how important it is to stay safe, how important it is to take this heat seriously,” said Mr. Mamdani.
