Hell hath no fury like the dog days of summer.
With the mercury soaring to record heights and gripping the Baked Apple in a sweaty bear hug of stagnant heat, New Yorkers struggled desperately yesterday for relief.
High temperatures hit 100 in parts of the city and the metro area – topping the previous record of 99 set in 1999.
But with humidity factored in, the city felt more like a blast furnace at 110, according to the National Weather Service.
“It’s like walking into hell. It’s like walking into an oven,” said Tamara Reid, 25, a mental health-specialist from Co-op City in The Bronx, on her way to work in Astoria, Queens.
“I can’t wait for fall to come. This is unbearable.”
Ice cream liquefied in trucks, lines at public pools stretched for blocks, pizza-parlor workers melted faster than mozzarella, and temperatures at schools without air-conditioning were brutal.
On the flip side, Con Edison’s fragile energy grid appeared to mostly hold, even though power usage reached a record 13,103 megawatts, 44 over the all-time mark set last summer.
Con Ed reported 4,710 people in the city and Westchester without power early this morning. It could not provide specific figures, but said most of them were in The Bronx and West chester.
In The Bronx, a nursing home on Henry Hudson Parkway partially lost power and was forced to temporarily evacuate 65 residents. Full service was restored by 7:30 p.m.
A utility spokesman also confirmed that two build ings on Lewis Avenue in Brooklyn were without power after a manhole fire. A crew was on the scene working on the problem.
A Kew Gardens Hills apartment complex in Queens went completely dark around 9 p.m.
“I wish it would go away,” said Karl Loutsis, 59. “We have dogs that can’t breathe and I have to go to work in the morning.”
Mayor Bloomberg praised major power users for working to curb demand.
“We’re all in this together. I think most people are responsible,” he said. “They are out there trying to make this work together.”
The city planned to shut decorative lights on the Coney Island parachute jump last night, as well as at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, Columbus Circle in Manhattan and the East River bridges.
Also, the city put much of Rikers Island and several of its wastewater treatment plants on backup generators, easing the load on Con Ed’s grid.
Con Ed also pitched in. After urging citizens to set thermostats at 78, the temperature in its headquarters was even higher – 85.
Temperatures will easily rise to as high as 104 today, and with the humidity it’ll feel like 115.
Tomorrow the heat will slacken off slightly, but still be in the high 90s.
Friday, on the other hand, will be a “beautiful day” after a cold front moves in, said meteorologist Brian Ciemnecki, dropping temps to the low 80s.
It won’t come soon enough for most.
“My chocolate is water,” said Antonius Jannes, who runs a Mister Softee truck and struggled yesterday with melting stock. “Everybody is staying inside by the air conditioners.”
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Yesterday’s highs
Central Park: 95
La Guardia Airport: 100
Kennedy Airport: 96
Newark Airport: 100
Teterboro Airport: 98
Westchester Airport, White Plains: 95
Montauk: 94
Islip: 94