What to Know
- A First Alert has been issued for the inland neighborhoods of the Delaware Valley until Wednesday.
- Inland temperatures are expected to reach the mid-90 degrees, but feel like the triple digits, with high humidity.
- Wednesday is expected to be the hottest day yet with highs pushing near 100 and feeling even hotter.
An oppressive heat wave is gripping the Delaware Valley, bringing potentially dangerously high heat and humidity.
The NBC10 First Alert Weather Team has issued a First Alert through Wednesday for all inland neighborhoods. Temperatures will reach highs in the mid- to upper-90 degrees, but they’ll feel like the triple digits, up to 105 on Wednesday as the high pushes up to near 100.
It officially became a heat wave once we hit 90 on Tuesday.
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Coastal areas will experience highs in the mid-to-upper 80s through Wednesday.
People should try to limit time outdoors to prevent heat-related illness. Signs of heat-related illness include headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue and excessive sweating.
Be sure to stay inside a safe place with air conditioning, and open windows and use fans if you don't have A/C in your home. If you're using a fan, the EPA warns that windows or a door should be open to the outside; otherwise, you're just recirculating hot air, which is more dangerous.
"The best way to protect our loved ones is to make sure that they can get into air conditioning during the hottest part of the day," Philadelphia's Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said.
Philadelphia declared its first "Heat Health Emergency" of the season, meaning that libraries and SEPTA buses could be used for staying cool during the heat of the day both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Here is a list of the Philly cooling centers:
Open until 7pm:
• Frankford Library at 4634 Frankford Avenue
• Lillian Marrero Library at 601 West Lehigh Avenue
• Widener Library at 2808 West Lehigh Avenue
Open until 8pm:
• Blanche A. Nixon Cobbs Creek Library at 5800 Cobbs Creek Parkway
• Fox Chase Library at 501 Rhawn Street
• Lucien E. Blackwell Regional Library at 125 South 52nd Street
• Whitman Library at 200 Snyder Avenue
This is a list of where SEPTA buses will be parked for people to cool off inside from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Wednesday:
- Germantown and Allegheny Avenues
- Wyoming and Rising Sun Avenues
- 52nd Street and Larchwood Avenue
- Broad and Snyder Streets
- 22nd and Moore Streets
- N. 29th and York Streets
People who aren't vaccinated are urged to wear masks inside the cooling centers.
Be sure to drink lots of water, even if you aren't feeling thirsty, to prevent dehydration. If outside, wear sunscreen and take breaks in the shade. Remember that even at the pool you can dehydrate, so drink water.
Here is a list of Philly's 92 public spraygrounds. However, the first of the city's pools only open Wednesday and most pools (that are opening) won't be open until next week, at the earliest.
You can also seek out A/C in public places like malls and movie theaters.
Make sure you download the NBC10 app so that you can get the latest on the heat from the First Alert Weather Team anytime you want.
