KYW Newsradio Team Coverage
AccuWeather says the extreme heat wave has passed but the forecast for Friday is still hot and humid with a high in the 90s. Clouds and sun throughout the day with an occasional thunderstorm or two. At night, temperatures could drop down in to the 60's.
KYW's Hadas Kuznits reports that since the start of the heat wave, nearly one thousand calls came into Philadelphia's heat line. Many of those calls addressed ways to stay cool
Linda Reiley with the Philadelphia Corporation for the aging says many of the questions recieved by city heat line workers had to do with fans,
"Well what you have to realize about a fan is that all it's doing is moving air around so if the air you're moving is hot, that really is not gonna cool you down. You should never run a fan in a closed room -- but on the other hand, if the air outside is as hot as the air inside, again, you're just miving hot air around."
She says there are a lot of ways to stay cool:
"You can take a bath, take a shower, put your feet in a pail of water, put a cool cloth on the back of your neck, go to a Senior Center, get on a SEPTA bus, go to the movies or go to a mall."
And she reminds people to check on their neighbors.
KYW’s Steve Tawa reports that tourists visiting Philadelphia were, for the most part, not changing their plans because of the heat.
They were seeking out any and all sights and attractions that have air conditioning. Ron Thrash's family is from Orange County, Calif.:
“We left California at 100-degree temperatures, and we came out to the East Coast to 100-degree temperatures. This is a whole different ballgame.”
Speaking of which, they stuck to their game plan and hit a recent Phillies game, as well as the Jersey shore and Gettysburg.
Margo Johnson was coping:
(Tawa:) "Where are you from?"
“La Grange, Texas -- close to Austin.”
(Tawa:) "What's the temperature like there on a day like this?"
“A hundred degrees. Today hasn't been so bad in the shade, with a bit of a breeze.”
She wondered about whether we employ air conditioning in Philadelphia, since the A/C at their most recent restaurant stop wasn't working, and the people they were visiting had fans instead of air conditioning.
KYW's Mike DeNardo reports that one guy who's working overtime during this heat wave is the ice delivery man.
The doors open around 6am at Jim's Enterprises in South Philadelphia. Jim McGinty is working 19-hour days, taking ice to the regulars -- mostly convenience stores and supermarkets. But he says the heat wave is bringing him some unusual business, too:
"We're delivering ice to water towers to help cool the water towers down. We're delivering to concrete companies to put in the mix to help bring the temperature of the concrete down. And people with swimming pools -- it's so hot, they're buying blocks of ice and throwing the blocks in the pool."
Jim says hotels and restaurants are even buying dry ice to put in their walk-in refrigerators, to help their compressors keep up in the extreme heat.
KYW's Dr. Brian McDonough reports that we can teach our bodies to adjust to high temperatures over time.
The technical term is acclimatization.
What happens is that the body, slowly but surely, becomes physically adjusted to temperatures of the environment. This usually takes about two weeks.
But we're not talking about anything dramatic here. For instance, you will still need to stay indoors during the hottest temperatures, just like you would before you became used to it.
In addition to that, you must still drink plenty of fluids -- your body starts to get used to that.
Another thing is that our basal metabolic rate actually will slow down a bit, and as it slows down we produce less heat. That also helps us adjust.
But as far as going through a six-month period of temperatures like this, you will be better suited for it at the end of two or three months -- but still you're going to be affected by the heat. You're still going to have to stay inside with air conditioning, and you're going to have to make adjustments.
Read Dr. Brian McDonough's Daily Medical Reports
Stay on top of the heat wave and summer storms with AccuWeather, eight times every hour on KYW Newsradio 1060.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
