Hottest day of the year, but heat won't last
On the hottest day of 2009, Philadelphia declared a full-blown heat emergency today, which is not all that unusual on an Aug. 10.
On the hottest day of 2009, Philadelphia declared a full-blown heat emergency today, which is not all that unusual on an Aug. 10.
What is unusual is that today's is the very first of the season.
Think of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey highway departments waiting until deep into February to spread ice-melting salt for the first time in winter, and you'll get the idea.
"It's amazing," said Bob Stauber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly.
At 3 p.m., the official thermometer at Philadelphia International Airport hit 94, the highest reading of the year. That's plenty hot, and the heat index of 102 made it more uncomfortable than it was in Miami.
But it was still well shy of the record, 98, set in 2001 in the heat of a blistering hot spell when the temperature banged 100 twice -- something that hasn't happened since.
And today marked only the eighth time it reached 90 this year, something that happens 26 times annually on average.
Promptly at 8:30 a.m. the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging opened its "heat line," and the phones started jangling right away. Elderly callers were seeking advice on how to deal with the season's first real pulse of heat.
"We're not used to it," said Eileen Ryan, a coordinator at the Philadelphia County Medical Society, which runs the city program that mobilizes more than 7,000 block captains when a heat emergency is declared. The captains are asked to look in on elderly neighbors and see that they get help if needed.
At PCA, Patricia McGee, who has been with the agency for more than 20 years, was giving out practical advice to callers: Open the windows, get to a mall, get out of the heat, period.
"If you live by yourself," she would tell them, "take the clothes off and stop playing. Just don't answer the door like that."
Out at 56th and Market Streets, Ryan Miller, who owns a food and drink cart, didn't find anything out of the ordinary about the heat.
"Well it's hot, what else are you gonna say?" Miller says. "It's hot in the summer it's cold in the winter. It will never change."
"It ain't got as hot as it's gonna get or as hot as it can get," said Claud Long, who was sitting in a chair in front of the cart.
Stauber isn't so sure about that. It will be hot again tomorrow, but not as uncomfortable, and then the heat should take a break. Stauber said he doesn't see any more serious heat on the horizon.
"I don't see it redeveloping," he said. "This may be the worst of it.
Inquirer staff writer Naomi Nix contributed to this article.
