Shiny skyscrapers reflected the sizzling sun, the mascots in Times Square sweltered in their suits and people wearing as little clothing as possible slogged across shimmering crosswalks on Tuesday. And a little before 1:30 p.m., the day officially became the hottest in more than a decade in New York City.
A thermometer at Belvedere Castle in Central Park, the official weather station for the city, reached 99 degrees on Tuesday afternoon for the first time since July 18, 2012. The last time the park even hit 98 degrees was several years ago, on June 30, 2021.
Early in the day, Bryan Ramsey, a meteorologist at the New York office of the National Weather Service, said he thought it was possible Central Park could reach as high as 102 degrees on Tuesday.
The hottest it has ever reached in Central Park was 106 degrees, on July 9, 1936.
Just by reaching 97 degrees in the afternoon, Mr. Ramsey said, Central Park had already surpassed a record for the date that had stood since 1888.
The vegetation in Central Park helps keep the site cooler than the surrounding areas, where there are fewer trees. Being on the coast, the humidity usually keeps the air more stifling and limits the most extreme temperatures, even though it often feels hotter than the thermometer indicates. On Tuesday, the air was drier, Mr. Ramsey said, because it was drifting in from the west, off the continent instead of the ocean.
This meant that the temperatures west and north of the city were even warmer.
Here are other notable temperatures at the nearby sites.
Newark Liberty International Airport reached 100, breaking the previous record for the date of 97 degrees set in 1966 and nearing the all-time June record of 103 in 2021.
LaGuardia Airport reached 95, nearing the record of 96 for the date, set in 2013, and still short of the June record of 101 set in 1952 and 2017.
Kennedy International Airport hit 102, breaking the daily record of 97 set in 2010. It also surpassed the June record of 99 set in 1949.
There is some relief: Temperatures are expected to be a little less hot on Wednesday, with a high of 94, and to drop back into the 70s on Thursday.