Temperature records broken on 1st day of summer

The official start of summer brought temperatures in the high 90s, record-setting in some spots and awfully close in others, to the Eastern Seaboard on Wednesday, with people wilting at graduation ceremonies, students trying to learn in suffocating classrooms and authorities warning folks to check on elderly neighbors.

The hot spell arrived right on time on the summer solstice and longest day of the year in a region that's home to some of the nation's most densely populated cities. According to the National Weather Service, all three New York City-area airports saw record temperatures, as did Connecticut's Bradley International Airport and the cities of Burlington, Vt., and Houlton, Maine.

Health officials across the Northeast warned residents to drink water, stay out of the sun and in air conditioning, and to check on elderly neighbors and pets. Public cooling centers have been set up in dozens of cities for those without air conditioning.

Several relatives of high school graduates were treated for heat exhaustion at an outdoor ceremony in North Bergen, N.J., and taken to a hospital. Ambulances were on standby at the event, which was held outside to accommodate about 5,000 people, said Capt. Gerald Sanzari of the North Bergen Police Department.

A similar scene took place in New Britain, Conn., where several people were taken to a hospital after suffering heat-related symptoms while attending the New Britain High School graduation. Captain David Koscuk of the New Britain EMS told the New Britain Herald that 24 people suffered from heat exhaustion or fainting and half of them were taken to area hospitals.

In Howell, N.J., school officials made Wednesday the last day of the school year instead of Thursday, citing the heat. And at nearby Wall High School, people attending the graduation ceremony were able to watch a remote broadcast inside the air-conditioned building.

According to the weather service, it hit 94 degrees at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, passing the 93-degree mark set in 1995. The 98-degree temperatures at LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport passed records set in 1953, when highs reached 96 at LaGuardia and 97 at Newark.

In New England, the mercury hit 97 degrees at Bradley airport in Hartford, Conn., breaking the 1995 record of 96 degrees. Record temperatures were also seen in Burlington, Vt., and Houlton, Maine, which reached 95 degrees and 90 degrees, up from 94 and 89.

Even places that didn't break records were extremely hot. In Washington, the airports topped out at 98, just shy of setting new heat marks. The mercury in Philadelphia rose to 97 degrees, one degree short of the record of 98 set in 1931.

"You're talking about almost 15 degrees above normal," said Kristin Kline, a weather service meteorologist in Mount Holly, N.J.

Every state in the Lower 48 except for North Dakota was forecast to have 90-degree weather until Saturday, according to a model by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency in charge of weather, climate and oceans.