High of 90 expected Tuesday

Steamy weather will continue Tuesday, with a high near 90, the National Weather Service said.

The week's heat wave prompted Hempstead to open 15 cooling centers and keep 13 pools open an extra hour through Friday.

Cooling centers are open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at senior centers around the town. They include: the Baldwin Senior Center, Bellmore Senior Center, Cedarhurst Senior Center, East Meadow Senior Center, Elmont Senior Center, Franklin Square Senior Center, Green Acres Senior Center, Levittown Senior Center, Merrick Senior Center (until 4:45 p.m.), Oceanside Senior Center, Rosa Parks Senior Center, Salisbury Senior Center in Westbury, Uniondale-Hempstead Senior Center, Uniondale-Merrick Senior Center, and the Wantagh Senior Center.

The pools are Roosevelt Pool, Town Park at Sands Pool, Forest City Park Pool, Rath Pool (Franklin Square Park District), Walker Memorial Pool, Acorn Lane Pool, Azaela Road Pool, Blue Grass Lane Pool, Carman Avenue Pool, Levittown Parkway Pool, Slate Lane Pool, West Village Green Pool and Wolcott Road Pool.

The day's mostly sunny skies are a taste of a heat wave spreading across the Great Plains and portions of the Midwest.

The incoming system has led to broiling heat in places like Rapid City, S.D., and even Minneapolis, with 100-degree temperatures expected. But it won't be quite as sizzling by Thursday, when it reaches the East Coast, meteorologist John Murray said Monday.

"Eastern New Jersey and New York City could get temperatures comparable to what is happening there," said Murray, noting temperatures in the high 90s across the Plains and Midwest. Most of Long Island will get temperatures in the low to mid-90s, he said.

"Friday looks to be the warmest day," Murray said. High temperatures will likely be near 94.

Tuesday night will be mostly clear, with a low around 66.

Wednesday will be sunny, with a high near 84, and Thursday will be mostly sunny, with a high near 90.

After Friday's high of near 94, Saturday calls for a high of 90, and 88 on Sunday. While that's a bit of a break, Murray said the advance forecast for the rest of July calls for slightly warmer temperatures than the normal average temperature for the month, about 75 degrees.

Downpours Monday night led the Suffolk County Department of Health Services to advise against bathing at 21 beaches until the waters have been flushed by two successive tidal cycles -- at least a 24-hour period.

The beaches include: Bayberry Cove Beach, Bayview Beach, Grantland Beach, Indian Field Association Beach, Little Bay Beach, Stony Brook Beach, Stony Brook Yacht Club Beach, Soundview Beach Association, Beech Road Beach, Broadway Beach, Friendship Drive Beach, Miller Place Park Beach, Scotts Beach, Shoreham Beach, Shoreham Shore Club Beach, Shoreham Village Park Beach, Sound Beach POA East, Sound Beach POA West, Terraces on the Sound Beach, Tides Beach, Woodhull Landing Beach.

For Nassau beach closings, call 516-227-9700 or 516-227-9717.

New York City also opened cooling centers after the weather service forecasted a heat index of more than 95 degrees for the afternoon. The agency also posted an air quality alert for much of New Jersey and a heat advisory for the areas around Trenton and Philadelphia.