MANHATTAN — Manhattan residents hit the pools and camped out in front of air conditioners to stay cool on Tuesday as temperatures hit a record-breaking 103 degrees in the city.
By 3 p.m. the temperature had climbed to 103 degrees in Central Park, breaking the daily record set in 1999, but humidity and a lack of breeze made it feel more like 110 degrees, according to AccuWeather.
The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory that will stay in effect until 7 p.m. Wednesday.
"This is horrible. I feel like I'm going to pass out," said Upper West Sider Kim Goldberg, 29, who was stuck on a downtown subway car without air conditioning. "I wish it would just rain and cool off already."
Officials warned New Yorkers to stay inside and drink plenty of water as the heat wave continued to scorch Manhattan.
Bronx resident Angel Sanchez, 49, was in Union Square looking at air conditioners at an electronics store on 14th Street.
"It's too hot," said Sanchez. "A fan ain't gonna do it."
The city opened cooling centers where people could seek relief from the sweltering temperatures in air-conditioned buildings.
Bibo Hou, 25, said she tried to buy air conditioners at three separate stores without luck.
"All the stores are sold out," the NYU graduate student said. "I'm going to stay in the library to stay cool. My apartment is way too hot."
Con Edison expects power usage to reach an all-time high Tuesday and asked customers to conserve power by keeping air conditioners at 78 degrees, unplugging appliances, keeping lights switched off and waiting until nighttime to run washers, dryers and dishwashers.
The electric company deployed extra crews to respond to problems in the power grid.
"We're going to use more energy in the next couple of days than we've ever used before in New York City," Bob McGee, a spokesman for the utility, told the New York Daily News.
The city's previous power usage record was set on Aug. 2, 2006, when New Yorkers gobbled 13,141 megawatts. The high back then was 97 degrees, according to news reports.
“That’s not a record we’re hoping to break,” ConEd spokesman John Miksad said Tuesday.
There were 1,500 homes without power in the city as of 12 p.m., but only 37 were located in Manhattan, according to ConEd.
“We do expect isolated outages throughout the week,” Miksad said.
The scorching weather did not dissuade David and Jennifer Baker, tourists from Pennsylvania, from getting their exercise Tuesday morning. The pair rollerbladed down the west side from 110th Street to Battery Park, then they headed up to the Heartland Brewery in South Street Seaport for a beer.
"I'm actually from the South, so this isn't so bad," said David Baker, 48.
Charles Lee, 42, who biked from his home in Long Island to Greenwich Village's West 4th Street courts to play handball, didn't let the heat slow him down.
"I'm from St. Croix originally," he said. "This is nothing. This is cool."
Christine Chen, 32, a maintenance worker at the Seaport, said she expected more tourists than usual to crowd the Pier 17 mall as they sought air conditioning. Wiping sweat from her forehead, she said she would be drinking plenty of water to stay cool.
The oppressive heat is expected to keep the city in its sweaty grip until Thursday, when the high temperature is expected to drop down to 90 degrees.
