The 1896 eastern North America heat wave was a 10-day heat wave in New York City, Boston, Newark and Chicago that killed about 1,500 people in August 1896. [1] [2] [3]
The 1896 eastern North America heat wave was a 10-day heat wave in New York City, Boston, Newark and Chicago that killed about 1,500 people in August 1896. [1] [2] [3]
There were ten days of temperatures at least 90 °F (32 °C ) with high humidity and little breeze. [4] The temperatures in New York did not drop below 72 °F (22 °C ) at night, with three consecutive nights at 80 °F (27 °C ) or above. It killed more than the New York City draft riots and the Great Chicago Fire combined. [2] A majority of the deaths were of working-class men in their twenties who performed manual labor.
The New York City Public Works Commissioner ordered that his workers' shifts be modified so they would not be working during midday, and he had fire hydrants opened to cool people on the street. Theodore Roosevelt, then New York City Police Commissioner, distributed free ice from local police stations. After accidental deaths from people falling off the roofs they were sleeping on, the New York City Parks Department allowed people to sleep in parks overnight. [1] [2]
A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather. Definitions vary but are similar. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and to normal temperatures for the season. Temperatures that humans from a hotter climate consider normal, can be regarded as a heat wave in a cooler area. This would be the case if the warm temperatures are outside the normal climate pattern for that area. High humidity often occurs during heat waves as well. This is especially the case in oceanic climate countries. Heat waves have become more frequent, and more intense over land, across almost every area on Earth since the 1950s, the increase in frequency and duration being caused by climate change.
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A cooling center is an air-conditioned public or private space to temporarily deal with the adverse health effects of extreme heat weather conditions, like the ones caused by heat waves. Cooling centers are one of the possible mitigation strategies to prevent hyperthermia caused by heat, humidity, and poor air quality.
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The 2007 North American heat wave started at the end of July and lasted into the first weeks of August. It was associated with severe drought over regions of the southeastern United States and parts of the Great Lakes region.
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