Welcome to Hot 101.5.
New York City is sweltering as temperatures push toward the 100-degree mark Wednesday and Thursday, trapped under the punishing “heat dome” baking much of the Northeast.
On Wednesday, Central Park hit a scorching 100 degrees for the first time in nearly 15 years. Making matters even more brutal, thick humidity drove the real-feel temperature to a skin-scorching 110 degrees, prompting officials to urge commuters to keep cool and stay indoors when possible.
Relief won’t arrive immediately: the oppressive heat is expected to linger into Friday before easing slightly to a still-steamy 95 degrees on Saturday.
For millions of subway riders, heading underground offers little escape. New York City subway platforms can feel every bit as stifling as the streets above — so hot, in fact, that influencers have tried baking cookies below ground as if train stations were makeshift griddles.
To measure just how intense the heat gets beneath the city, the Post visited several of New York’s hottest and busiest subway stops on Thursday. Platform conditions were recorded with an Ambient Weather WS-HE01 Handheld Heat Stress Meter, which tracks air temperature, humidity and heat index — the combined measure of heat and moisture that reflects how hot it actually feels on the body.
Hot tracks
Lexington Ave — 59th Street platform:
At the Lexington Ave–59th Street 6 train platform, the air felt like a steam basket, with temperatures climbing to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity reaching 61% — about 20% higher than conditions at street level.
The heat index there registered a muggy 107.9 degrees — hotter than Death Valley’s forecast high for the day, but with nearly 10 times the humidity.
As rider Andrew, from the UK, told the Post, “over 100 is crazy,” adding that it was far “hotter” than the London’s tube.
Grand Central — 42nd Street:
By contrast, Grand Central’s 6th train platform felt pleasant, clocking in at a “temperate” 89.9 degrees F and a feels-like temp of 96.3 degrees despite feels-like temps topping 60% humidity. For reference, that’s on the lower end of an average day in the equatorial city of Singapore.
This sultry setting was too much for Swiss straphanger Marco Alfirev, who told the Post that he was “sweating like crazy” and called it worse than Europe — save for the continent’s recent record-breaking heat wave.
Times Square–42nd Street
Their “Deuce” is cooked. The mercury eclipsed 91 degrees Fahrenheit on the Times Square — 42nd street street platforms serving the 1, 2 and 3 lines while the heat index climbed above 103 degrees Fahrenheit.
“It’s too hot, all the time,” Skye Padovani, a commuter from New Jersey, told the Post while buzzing her face with a hand-fan.
14th Street–Union Square
Not even an army of whirring fans could tame the searing conditions at 14th Street — Union Square, whose purgatorial L, 4, 5, and 6 train platforms frequently rank among the hottest in town.
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On Thursday, it was char for the course: The regular temps hit 92.5 degrees Fahrenheit with the feels-like readings of 102 F, making waiting for the rails feel like roasting on an underground rotisserie.
Mary Bace said the skillet-like station was only a five-minutes away from her house but she was already “drenched” and feared showing up to a job interview looking “sweaty and crazy.”
Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall
More like City Hell. Brooklyn Bridge– City Hall’s 4,5,6 line platforms — another perennial contender for NYC’s most sweltering stop — was comparatively comfortable, recording temps of just 89.6 degrees F and a heat index of 97.8.
Fulton Street
The same couldn’t be said for the Fulton Street platform, where the mercury hit 93 F with a feels-like temp of nearly 100 degrees.
Departing the climate-controlled carriages, where temps hover in the mid-70s, felt like stepping from the “Snowpiercer” train onto a human hibachi.
“It’s essentially like a layer of hell, like Dante’s Inferno,” Jose Ocampo lamented to the Post, adding that he didn’t foresee conditions improving anytime soon.
Subterranean sweat lodge
What’s to blame for this subterranean sauna effect?
Experts say the subway is essentially a giant furnace: trains generate heat as they brake and accelerate, passengers contribute body heat, concrete traps and radiates warmth and the train’s cooling systems — somewhat paradoxically — transfer the heat from the train to the tunnels, according to the Regional Plan Association (RPA).
“So much of operating the subway system involves generating more heat,” Rachel Weinberger, the RPA’s VP of Transportation told the Post. “The only thing that air conditioning does is it moves hot air from one space to another space, and it creates more heat in the meantime.”
Simply retrofitting the over-century-old network with aircon isn’t feasible. Unlike newer contained metro stations in Asia and elsewhere, New York’s sprawling network was built as an open system with countless stairways, ventilation grates and interconnected tunnels that make climate-control nigh impossible — akin to running the HVAC with the window open.
Beat the heat
Unfortunately, these inadvertent heating stations aren’t just uncomfortable — they can also be life-threatening.
“Though rare, there has been least one subway death from heat stroke and cases of riders fainting, including one who fell to their death onto the tracks,” Anna Bershteyn, PhD, associate professor, Department of Population Health, NYU Langone Health, told the Post.
People chronic health conditions, the elderly and young, and pregnant women rank among the most susceptible to heat-induced afflictions.
To reduce the risk of roasting alive, she advises staying hydrated, checking train times on the MTA app to limit time spent sizzling on the subway platform, and dressing appropriately for the heat wave.
“Wear lightweight, breathable clothing, and bring cold water and a portable fan,” suggested Berhsteyn. “Year-round, take the best care of your health that you can so your body can withstand the stress of a hot commute.”
