by By Patrick Wingrove
New York (Reuters) -Tien of millions of people in large cities in the northeast of the US will be confronted on Tuesday with record -high temperatures on what is expected to be the worst day of an oppressive heat wave that has spread over a large part of the country since the end of last week.
The temperatures in Washington and Boston are expected to rise to 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), who beat previous records with no less than 6 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
In the Central Park of New York City, the temperatures can reach 99 F (37 C), exceeding the past of the 96 area. There is also the potential for record heat on other parts of the East, including Noord -Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, according to the NWS.
“It seems that today is probably the worst day for widespread heat records,” said Bob Oravec, main predictor of the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, that the most intense heat in the northeast is concentrated.
The extreme heat causes disruptions for public transport by the northeast, with the American passenger railway Amtrak that says it will be forced to delay the train speeds between 12:00 and 20.00 on Tuesday between Washington and New York and between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, which can lead to delays.
Some tourist attractions are even affected. According to the National Park Service, the Washington Monument will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the heat.
Construction companies are forced to compensate the heavy weather to ensure that their construction workers are safe. Jeff Wagner, communication manager at Bouwbedrijf Fluor, said that the company supplied cooling stations and heavy water bottles to his more than 2,000 workers who worked on a pharmaceutical project in Indiana.
“We have safety meetings every morning, but knowing that this would be an exceptionally hot week, (we talked about) hydration and ensuring that employees pacen themselves,” Wagner said.
He added that employees would start their services an hour earlier, so that they can end before the hottest part of the day.
In New York City, residents who cast their votes in primary elections are forced to withstand the rising temperatures. Accountant Alex Antzoulatis, 53, who appeared on Tuesday at a poll location in Astoria, New York to cast his vote in the mayors primarily, Reuters said that he was not sorry that he did not vote by post.
He said that he only went to the poll in the 100-F Hitte, just because he votes like his duty, “but the heat will keep many people away”.
The warm weather about the American plains and in Canada has also influenced crops. In Saskatchewan in Western Canada, where many of the Canola, the spring-wheat and the pulse crops of the land are grown, drought so that has recently placed crops impeded in June.
The rainfall in the last few days came too late, said Yorkton, Saskatchewan -farmer Bill Prybylski, adding that the damage was partially limited by the smoky air of forest fires, which stopped the immediate sunlight of burned crops.
Oravec at the NWS said that the temperature should fall on Wednesday. “Just like Thursday’s temperature in New York, it is predicted that he will be 84 Fahrenheit, and is supposed to be 75 F Friday.”
(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove; Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in New York, Ed White in Winnipeg and Heather Schlitz in Chicago; Edit by Sandra Maler)
