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Heat Wave Enters Fourth and Hottest Day as Temps Soar to 97 Degrees

By  Pedro Oliveira Jr Gustavo Solis and Mathew Katz | July 18, 2013 11:22am | Updated on July 18, 2013 3:45pm

  Temperatures are expected to get up to 97 degrees but will feel like 103 degrees, forecasters warn.
Heat Wave: Day Four
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NEW YORK CITY — Temperatures soared to a sweltering 97 degrees Thursday, the hottest day of the city's week-long heat wave, forecasters predict.

Worse, humidity will likely make it feel like 103 degrees, according to the National Weather Service which extended its heat advisory through 8 p.m. Friday.

“As someone who grew up in sweltering Texas heat, let me just say this would be considered brutal in Houston and that is not a compliment,” M Liebling-Goldberg wrote on Twitter Thursday morning.

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The high temperatures caused 598 Con Edison customers in The Bronx to lose electricity Thursday morning, according to the utility's website which tracks outages. Power was restored as of 2:15 p.m., according to their site.

Thursday's outage left customers at 157th Street and Gerard Avenue completely in the dark for about five hours.

Similar outages are common in the summer when strained air conditioners cause Con Edison equipment to fizzle out, a spokesman for the utility said.

People without air conditioning or electricity can find relief from the heat at one of the city’s 400 cooling stations, which can be located here

The centers were originally set to close Thursday when meteorologists predicted that temperatures would dwindle.

But the city announced that they would remain open through Sunday when a cold front from is expected to unsettle the hot air causing the soaring temperatures, according to the city and Weather Service.

The National Weather Service now expects the heat wave to break by Saturday, when thunderstorms are expected to pass through the city.

"It's just so hot out," said one worker at the New York Public Library's main Bryant Park location, who declined to give his name. "Whenever we open, there's always people waiting outside to cool down."

The FDNY received 55 heat-related calls by 3:15 a.m. Thursday, they said. Wednesday, they received a total of 39, a fire spokeswoman said.

Overall, EMS responded to a total of 4,005 calls throughout the city on Wednesday. As of 3:15 Thursday afternoon, they had responded to 2,572, she added.

VISIT OUR WEATHER PAGE FOR MORE INFO

In Central Park, John Williams of Harlem took advantage of the heat by selling ice-cold water bottles. He started out with 120 but ran out within a day. When it gets too hot, he doesn’t mind drinking some of his own supply.

“For myself, I just try to stay in the shade and drink water,” he said. “You’ve got to stay cool.”

Nearby, Harlem stay-at-home mom Theresa Kearns, 42, kept her toddlers running through the north side playground's sprinklers and drinking plenty of water to stay cool Thursday morning. 

"We're trying to get out earlier in the day, stay hydrated with popsicles for the kids," said Kearns, 42, who has kept her air conditioning unit on throughout most of this sweltering week to relieve her three and 1-year-old sons. "I try to turn it off early in the morning, but it's just so hot."

Not everyone complained of the heat Thursday. Camden Storey, 24, spend the afternoon fly fishing at Central Park’s Harlem Meer.

“AC is nice, but I like being outside," said the first-grade teacher. “If it’s too hot, just take your shirt off and deal with it. Drink plenty of water and use sunscreen.”

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