By Brian
Carovillano
Associated Press Writer
A
stretch of record-breaking, August-like heat in the Northeast has people taking
air conditioners out of storage early and flocking to beaches that aren't even
open for the season yet.
Workers spent lunch hours in ice cream shops
and outdoor cafes Thursday as the mercury headed toward a second straight day
of record highs in Providence, R.I.; Boston; Hartford, Conn.; Albany, N.Y., and
Bangor, Maine.
The temperature climbed into the 80s on Tuesday and reached
the 90s on Wednesday. The 90-degree heat is expected to continue through Friday.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," said accountant Michelle
Almeida, 25, dining alfresco in Providence. "It's been a long winter."
The
hot, dry weather is not so grand for farmers who depend on spring rains. And it
helped stoke wildfires like the 200-acre blaze that swept through Douglas State
Forest in Massachusetts on Thursday. Officials in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
declared the fire risk extreme.
A cold front descending from Canada late
Friday was expected to provide relief from the heat and bring scattered thunderstorms,
but not enough to saturate the parched soil, and the risk could remain high for
weeks.
The Northeast heat wave came as spring snowstorms pounded portions
of the Rocky Mountains on Thursday, forcing schools and roads to close in Wyoming.
It has been a season of climate extremes in the Northeast. It was the
second-driest April on record in Boston, and one of its wettest Marchs.
The
fair weather was just fine with Amanda Johansen, 25, of Westerly, R.I. "I can't
believe it was snowing just a few weeks ago," she said. "This is much better."
New Hampshire's Hampton Beach was packed with sunbathers, some daring
enough for a dip in the still-frigid Atlantic. "I'm refreshed now," Bruce Cook
of Haverhill, Mass., said after plunging into the ocean with friends.
Dozens
of sailboats plied Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, and nearby beach parking lots
were full by mid-morning, even though the state's public beaches will not open
until the weekend.
The Target store in Danvers, Mass., has had air conditioners
delivered every night this week because they are selling out so fast. "Usually
we see this kind of increase in July and August," said Jane Stein, a manager.
In Albany, N.Y., which hit a record 88 degrees Wednesday and was headed
for 90 Thursday, city officials worried about their annual Tulip Festival. Many
flowers planted for the festival were in full bloom a week and a half before the
show was to begin.
"I throw ice on some of them," said Dottie Dack of
the city's special events office. |
