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NY turned into 'Baked Apple'
18/07/2006 18:19 - (SA)
New York - Much of the United States sweated through a national heat wave on Tuesday.
For New Yorkers, the Big Apple was more like the Baked Apple and power demand surged as frazzled residents cradled their air conditioners.
Monday saw the mercury hit 37°C at New York's LaGuardia Airport - the highest temperature registered since records started being kept in 1948.
High demand was blamed for a power outage on Monday evening at one of the airport's four terminals, which caused some flight delays.
The municipal authorities ordered the opening of so-called cooling centre across the city - air-conditioned facilities normally located in senior citizen and community centres - for use by the general public.
The four-day heat wave, caused by a high-pressure system to the south pumping in hot air from Mexico, resulted in heat advisories being posted in the south, midwest and northeast United States.
Record temperatures were also set in Stockton, California and Salt Lake City, Utah.
"A heat wave like this usually comes about once a year," said a spokesperson for the national weather service. "The important thing is for people to exercise some common sense, drink enough water and wear light clothes."
A cold front moving in from the northwest was expected to bring some relief to the country on Wednesday.
- AFP
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