Do not look directly into the website. (Photo by Samer Farha)
Just when we thought we were over a crushing heat wave, temperatures in D.C. once again soaring toward triple digits today. At 10:15 a.m., Washington was the hottest place in the United States, with a temperature of 90 degrees and still climbing. (It’s since been topped by the weather St. Louis.)
The Weather Channel projects that today’s high temperature here will hit 101 degrees, making the D.C. area the second-hottest part of the country, tied with Phoenix and trailing only Las Vegas. Gross.
Yesterday, we reported some D.C. services amended their schedules to accomodate the surging heat, including the Department of Parks and Recreation, which extended hours at various swimming pools around town, and the Department of Public Works, which moved up trash pickup by an hour. However, no other D.C. agencies have announced any special precautions. A spokesman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority did not reply to an inquiry yesterday if Metro would once again permit its customers to stay cool by lifting the prohibition on bottled water.
Via The Weather Channel
Similarly, the National Weather Service has not issued any heat advisories issued for the area. But the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency is issuing a hyperthermia alert, advising residents to avoid exposure to direct sunlight and the sweltering heat, which is expected to peak later this afternoon.
There’s at least one upside to this current heat wave, though. Unlike last week, when stifling humidity created heat indicies of close to 110 degrees, the humidity right now is a relaxed 49 percent. It’s still very hot out there, so stay hydrated.
Temperatures are expected to remain in the upper 90s and low 100s through Thursday, before the heat wave breaks on Friday.
Unfortunately, Davy DCist could not be reached for comment. To the best of our knowledge, Davy, who hasn’t been seen in nearly two years, is in the discreet custody of either an intelligence agency or military contractors. Oh, well, it’s cooler in Gitmo anyway. Seriously, it is.
UPDATE, 3 p.m.: The temperature in D.C. is currently 100 degrees with a heat index of 102. That’s two degrees shy of the record, according to the Capital Weather Gang. Forget what we said about the humidity taking some of the edge off. This sucks.
Correction: This post originally stated that Washington was the hottest city in the United States as of 11:15 a.m. By that time of morning, the temperature in St. Louis had eclipsed the temperature here.
