we'll brace yourself for this oppressive
heat wave slamming our area it's not
quite as intense as the heat dome baking
the northwest but
it'll feel downright miserable that dome
of high pressure is sparking
record-setting temperatures on the west
coast
made worse by human-caused climate
change experts say that makes such
extreme weather events more likely and
severe the oppressive temperatures are
forcing cities up and down the state to
open cooling sites and
urge precautions climatologists worry
new jersey could begin seeing some of
the same weather patterns here
melissa rose cooper reports it's part of
our ongoing series on the human stories
of climate change
peril and promise two-year-old maya
is all smiles and giggles mom and lucky
make those sprinkles
we wanted to come to the playground and
have a little fun before the sun got
really really hot
a perfect way to cool off as new
jerseyans brave another day of extreme
heat
and according to the project states at
risk the high temperatures now could
just be the beginning
as climate change has the state as the
sixth fastest warming in the country
it does look like this summer will
average warmer than last summer
just by random chance essentially but uh
if you compare you know summers this
decade to summers 100 years ago
almost all of them are you know warmer
than those numbers we're
12 degrees or so above normal today
during our heat wave two of those
degrees or so is from the long-term
uh temperature increase sort of heat
added on top of that from global warming
gives us
the kinds of things we're experiencing
in today's climate the heat could also
lead to some power outages but pscng
says they're doing
everything they can to make sure any
loss of power
doesn't last for long we prepare all
year round
for for weeks like this we have a series
of checklists that we go through and a
series of things
of items that we assess and we inspect
and we address
so we are ready for these types of uh
types of hot weeks
um we do monitor our system both
remotely as well as in person
uh with personnel on site 24 7 we look
to make sure that anything that we see
from a system condition standpoint
is monitored and again any abnormalities
that we might uh unexpectedly come
across
uh we're there to respond and to address
big or small
and doctors are reminding patients to
stay cool with light loose clothing to
avoid heat related illnesses including
stroke and exhaustion
the number one way that the body loses
heat is through evaporation so
that's why we have the profuse sweating
and then
you know that is able to evaporate and
bring heat off the body
unfortunately sometimes you get these
high temperatures and also high humidity
and then the body is really challenged
because a humidity level above 75
percent
it becomes much more challenging for the
body to cool the evaporation because
obviously you've got moisture in the air
which makes it difficult
for new moisture off the body to
evaporate tyler smith knows all too well
how the heat makes his body feel
during football training i mean it's
excruciating it's a little tiring but
it's needed because we practice and we
play in this type of heat so yeah i'm
pretty used to it
and while there are still some people
running around and playing sports here
at the park the sprinklers here behind
me
still seem to be one of the favorite
places and coolest spots to be
well i just came over to work out with
my kids and then they want to blow the
water so i have to bring them down there
so they can
have fun a heat advisory is in effect
through wednesday night
cooler temperatures are expected towards
the end of the week
for nj spotlight news i'm melissa rose
cooper
lead funding for peril and promise is
provided by
dr p roy vagalos and diana t vagalos
major support is provided by the mark
haas foundation
and sue and edgar wachenheim iii and the
cheryl and philip milstein family
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