Heat advisory expires for Nassau, parts of Suffolk
A kayaker and stand up paddler glide across the Peconic Bay in Cutchogue. (June 29, 2012) Credit: Randee Daddona
Another air quality alert on Long Island has been issued for Saturday -- the second consecutive day on which the mercury will again zoom well into the 90s, the National Weather Service said.
The north shore, from Nassau to Shoreham, will bear the brunt of higher temperatures, up to 96 degrees, as the south shore and eastern Long Island benefit from ocean winds, said meteorologist Bill Goodman.
An air quality alert will be in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, he said. Friday's air quality alert expired at 10 p.m.
An alert is issued when pollution levels and ozone levels in the air are elevated, placing people with pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease at risk.
It's a time for people to refrain from hard exercise and outdoor work, experts said.
Drinking lots of water and avoiding caffeine and alcohol, which can raise heart rates and internal temperatures, will help ease the effects of the heat wave, experts said.
"It'll be uncomfortable probably till evening," Goodman said.
The good news: humidity levels of 30 percent or so will make Saturday more bearable then Friday, when levels were at 45 percent, the meteorologist said.
There's a slight chance of thunderstorms from late Saturday night into Sunday morning, when highs will begin to climb toward 90, according to the forecast.
Sunday's temperatures will fall a few degrees by dinner time, with a slight chance of thunderstorms again, the weather service said.
For those with no air conditioning, Goodman suggests opening windows at night, when the breezes are cooler. When the sun begins to climb, shut windows that are in direct sunlight and open the ones that are away from the sun or shaded by trees, he said.
As of 11 p.m. Friday, no heat advisory has been issued for Saturday.
One was in effect Friday for Nassau County and northwestern Suffolk County, which expired at 7 p.m. Temperatures in those parts of the Island felt like close to 100 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
A heat advisory is issued when heat and humidity combine to make it feel like it's hotter than 100 degrees for two straight hours.
Friday hit a high of 93 degrees at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma at 3:20 p.m., with a heat index of 101 degrees, according to the service. The June 29 record for MacArthur is 95 degrees, set in 1991.
It felt like 90 degrees -- with a temperature of 84 degrees -- at MacArthur shortly before 7 p.m. Friday, the weather service said.
Before the heat turned on, a fast-moving thunderstorm zipped across the Island shortly after dawn but didn't drop much rain, meteorologist Dan Hoffman said.
"It was a loud, wake-me-up call," Hoffman said.
Temperatures then climbed into the 90s under sunny skies, forecasters said.
