With temperatures expected to peak in the upper 90s today and early next week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has activated the city’s heat emergency plan through Wednesday.
The intense humidity could bring the heat index to about 105 degrees this afternoon.
It’s so hot the National Parks Service closed a strenuous section of the Billy Goat Trail along the C&O Canal Park both today and Monday due to the heat. Saturday, Montgomery County paramedics treated more than a dozen people for heat-related illness, according to spokesperson Pete Piringer.
To beat the heat, D.C. opens rec centers, schools and homeless shelters as “cooling centers” whenever the forecasted temperature or heat index is 92 degrees or higher. They’ll open 11 a.m. to at least 7 p.m. through Wednesday. An interactive map of cooling centers is available here.
If District residents, or someone they know, need transportation to a cooling center, they can call the city’s hyperthermia hotline at 202-399-7093.
During the pandemic, the cooling centers have also adopted new safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Masks will be required and social distancing will be enforced. Everyone will be directed to an open seat that is marked off to ensure appropriate spacing.
“Masks will be given to residents who do not have them,” said Christopher Rodriguez, director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.
“And again, making sure that people sign in, that we have contact information — as we do every year. But it’s even more important now with the COVID pandemic.” This information can be used for contact tracing.
The Capital Weather Gang puts today’s high between 95 and 100 degrees and says the heat index could reach 105.
“A few cooling thunderstorms could be scattered about mid-afternoon into early evening,” CWG reports.
A heat advisory is in effect for the entire region between noon and 8 p.m., and the National Weather Service warns everyone to stay in air-conditioned rooms, drink water and keep out of the sun.
If spending time outside, NWS recommends taking frequent breaks in the shade or air conditioning. And, whenever possible, it’s best to reschedule strenuous outdoor activities to the early morning or evening.
Yesterday was a scorcher too, but today is much more humid. As the Capital Weather Gang reported this morning, “It only gets worse from here unless you enjoy the heat.”
Temperatures will be pretty unbearable for the next several days. Tomorrow’s high is likely in the upper 90s or even 100 degrees.
The District canceled its coronavirus testing on Monday due to the heat.
Last week, the region came just one day shy of tying the record for most consecutive days hitting 90 degrees. That means for 20 straight days, the temperature ticked into the 90s.
But, as the Capital Weather Gang reported, that streak was notable more so for its length than its intensity. The average temperature this time of year is 89 degrees, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jeremy Geiger.
“So, temperatures overall have been hovering right around average, or slightly above average for this time of year,” Geiger said last week. But it’s important to be prepared for the hottest days — like we’re experiencing now.
“You have to stay safe, drink water, limit your time outside,” Geiger says, “It’s those big days where we have more critical dangerous weather [when] I like to push — if something like that’s coming, just be aware.”
