Long Island weather: Temperatures to approach 100 with daily chance of thunderstorms

Long Islanders will confront dangerous, unrelenting heat and humidity Thursday with no relief expected until Sunday, forecasters said.

As a "heat dome" settles over the region, the National Weather Service is expecting "widespread" temperatures that will feel like 100 to 110 degrees across the New York City area.

In a statement issued at 6 a.m. Thursday, the weather service said isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible each day through Sunday. Any of these thunderstorms have the potential to produce damaging winds, large hail, and localized flash flooding, forecasters said.

Newsday meteorologist Geoff Bensen said actual temperatures Thursday will hover around 100 on Long Island's North Shore and be cooler closer to the South Shore and the Atlantic beaches.

Bensen's forecast called for real-feel temperatures of 104 in Great Neck and Farmingdale. But near the ocean, communities including Babylon and Montauk will have real feels in the mid-70s.  

Experts and local officials have warned residents to take refuge from the dangerous heat.

"This is potentially lethal," Dr. Gregson H. Pigott, the Suffolk County health commissioner, told reporters at a briefing with county officials at Smith Point County Park earlier this week.

On Tuesday, when National Weather Service meteorologists put the metro area under an extreme heat warning from Wednesday through Friday night, Long Island’s elected officials had announced that dozens of government buildings across the region would be readied as cooling centers and that many town beaches and pools would extend their hours.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said state beaches across Long Island would stay open until 8 p.m. for the duration of the heat warning. County Executives Bruce Blakeman and Ed Romaine warned residents in Nassau and Suffolk, respectively, to curtail outdoor exposure and said residents without access to air conditioning should consider the cooling centers.

In scope and scale, the preparations resembled those for a blizzard. "In some ways, this is more life-threatening" because of the risks posed by outdoor exertion, said Romaine, speaking at a news conference.

The heat index, which is what the temperature feels like when combined with humidity, was expected to rise as high as 110 degrees, though it may be lower in Long Island's coastal communities.

Low temperatures across the region are not likely to drop below the upper 70s to the lower 80s Wednesday through Friday nights.

Officials warned that days of sustained heat also would tax infrastructure. MTA chair Janno Lieber said agency personnel would inspect tracks "through the heat to make sure the rails, which do sometimes kink in the heat, don’t get out of line." They also are inspecting trains and cars to ensure they have working air conditioning and prepositioning generators in case of electrical outages, he said.

Hochul’s office, in a news release, warned that, as millions of state residents switch on air conditioners, electricity demand would surge, which could result in instances of "low voltage or isolated power outages." The state record for such usage was set in 2013, when it reached 33,956 megawatts — enough to power nearly 34 million homes.

In an email, a PSEG Long Island representative said the utility had improved grid reliability by installing stronger poles and wires, among other measures. PSEG also has repair teams ready to work "around the clock" in case of power outages, the representative wrote. "High heat can place stress on electric equipment by causing transformers, cables and other components to operate at higher temperatures, which can increase the potential for equipment failure."

In an interview, Dr. Peter McKenna, an emergency medicine doctor at Stony Brook University Hospital, said part of the danger of the coming heat wave would be its duration: "unrelenting for days on end."

With little overnight relief, hazards multiply for "the elderly, those with chronic health conditions, and individuals working or recreating outside," he said.

According to Northwell Health, the region’s largest health system, adults ages 18 to 25 are the most frequent visitors with heat-related ailments, often from outdoor work or recreation. Patients over 75 face the greatest danger, with roughly a third requiring hospitalization and the highest rates of life-threatening heatstroke.

Emergency department visits tend to spike during periods of extreme heat. By the end of June last year, Nassau and Suffolk residents had made 183 and 111 heat-related trips, respectively, to the emergency room, according to the state Department of Health. Tens of thousands of households across Long Island — about 4.5% in Suffolk and 3% in Nassau — lack air conditioning, according to the census. Temperatures in those structures could rise higher than outdoors, and anyone who does not have air conditioning in their home should go elsewhere, McKenna said.

It appeared that Long Islanders with the means to do so were buying air conditioners or ordering last-minute repairs. Kerry O’Brien, owner of T.F. O’Brien, an HVAC company in New Hyde Park, said call volume was on its way to tripling. He said, "People who maybe thought they had issues and they were procrastinating, finally, they’re like, ‘Uh oh, this is coming.’ "

Ambient temperatures in the 90s may translate to temperatures of 140 degrees in the attics where his technicians sometimes work. "You can only be in there for a very limited time," O’Brien said. "Frankly, it beats them up."

Sandy Tau, owner of AHC Appliances in Cedarhurst, said demand was spiking for air conditioners and refrigerators too, because of what she called "anticipated" need: The heat has helped many people who were on the fence make up their minds fast. "People are already scheduling their installation. They don’t want to take a chance," she said.

Social service agencies were mobilizing to care for Long Island's vulnerable residents. Erin Forsberg, a case manager for Family and Children's Association, said she and colleagues were calling senior citizen clients. "We're making sure they have water, numbers to local emergency services, and a family member or somebody nearby who can check in on them," she said.

Jessica Labia-Bookstaver, director of support programs for Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, said street outreach teams were bringing water, ice and shelter options to roughly 400 people who live outdoors on Long Island. Many of them are in their 50s to their 80s and some have "complex medical conditions," she said.

"Cold isn’t the only dangerous element we have outside. Heat also brings danger."

At least one town — Brookhaven — moved garbage pickup to a 5 a.m. start time to protect workers. "It's a pretty strenuous job, when you're going house to house in a tight community. They're jumping on and off, getting the garbage and getting back in," said Christine Fetten, commissioner of recycling and sustainable materials management. Each truck might collect from as many as 1,200 homes. "Garbage collection ahead of a holiday weekend, suspension would not be an option," she said.

Blakeman, speaking Monday to reporters, said the county was opening multiple cooling centers, including one at the former county Family Court building in Westbury that will be open 24 hours.

Residents should watch themselves for signs of heat exhaustion and overexposure to the sun, he said, adding, "Don't think that you're immune ... This is serious business."

Newsday's Bensen said the week's temperatures would likely hit well above the average of low to mid-80s for Long Island in July. "Is this unprecedented? No. But is this rare? The answer is yes," he said.

The all-time record temperature for the National Weather Service's Islip station is 104 degrees, set on July 3, 1966, he said.