BOSTON (AP) — Last summer, Boston was afflicted by rain. This year, the city is baking, with Mayor Michelle Wu this week declaring a heat emergency.
Neither scenario has been ideal for kayakers and paddleboarders on the Charles River, although more tend to opt for too much heat over too much moisture.
“When it’s in the 70s and 80s, that’s great weather for paddling,” said Mark Jacobson, the vice president of Paddle Boston. “When it starts getting above 90, then we notice that there’s a little bit of a drop off, but people are still coming out. So, it affects business, but it doesn’t shut us down the way rain would.”
Wu declared the heat emergency Monday through Wednesday, with temperatures forecast to reach into the high 90s Fahrenheit (around 36 Celsius) and the heat index expected to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius). Similar temperatures are expected across much of New England.
City officials in Boston said they're taking a number of measures to cool things off, including setting up misting tents around the city, opening cooling centers at 14 community centers and encouraging residents to seek relief in city pools and libraries.
During heat waves, Boston's emergency medical services report they typically experience a 10-15% increase in 911 calls.
Heat is the top cause of weather-related fatalities nationwide. And this year, the U.S. is experiencing dangerous conditions across much of the country, especially in the West. Climate scientists warn the extreme weather is a harbinger of things to come as the planet warms.
“As we face another round of hot weather in Boston, our city teams are working to ensure all residents, especially children and seniors, have the resources to stay cool,” Wu said in a statement. “We’re encouraging families to take advantage of the pools and splash pads that are open, take breaks inside, and to stay hydrated and check on each other.”
On Boston Common, Ashley Cealy was selling lemonade and roasted nuts Tuesday, when temperatures were predicted to rise into the mid-90s. The 21-year-old Boston resident said she tends to see more thirsty customers when the temperature soars, but not always.
“When there is a heat advisory, people might stay in, so it’s hit or miss,” she said.
Cealy, who works at a stand next to a visitor’s center, said she does her best to keep cool during the hottest hours of the day.
“I have a little fan and I keep hydrated,” she said. “I have shade as well, so that’s good.”
Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire.
Logan Griggs, of Hampton, N.H., right, jumps onto his restored fishing boat as his dad, Tim Griggs, steadies the stern on the boat's first launch of the year at Great Pond, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Kingston, N.H. Temperatures in most of New England are holding in the mid-90's during the day, as the hot weather of summer continues. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Sierra Payne, of Boston, reaches for a bottle of water while trying to stay cool under an umbrella as she visits Wollaston Beach, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Quincy, Mass. Temperatures reached 90 degrees in many areas in the state Monday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
After a short-lived calm following a heavy exchange of strikes between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, fighting resumed Monday.
State media and witnesses reported that Israeli strikes targeted the Lebanese border village of Tair Harfa and in the area of the coastal city of Sidon on Monday afternoon. A car was hit in the latter strike. It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties.
On Sunday, Israel launched dozens of strikes on southern Lebanon that it described as a preemptive operation, saying it had averted a major attack planned by Hezbollah in retaliation for the killing of one of its top commanders, Fouad Shukur, in an Israeli strike in Beirut last month.
Shortly afterward, Hezbollah launched a barrage of hundreds of drones and rockets, which it said was in retaliation for the killing of Shukur. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed drones had hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv. Israel said no military target was hit. Neither offered evidence.
Hezbollah declared its retaliatory operation was over and neither side launched strikes overnight.
Here’s the latest:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s foreign minister again has referenced his country’s planned retaliation over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Abbas Araghchi said late Sunday he made the remark in a conversation with Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, by telephone.
“Iran reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive, and will be measured & well calculated,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. “We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it—unlike Israel.”
From Tajani’s side, he said he “called for restraint and to pursue a constructive approach, in order to stop the cycle of military actions in the region, which only risks bringing more suffering.”
“It is important that Iran exercises moderation towards Hezbollah in order to avert an escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border, where Italian soldiers of the UNIFIL contingent are operating, and towards the Houthis in order to avoid an increase in tensions in the Red Sea area, where Italy plays a leading role in the (European Union’s) Aspides mission,” he said in a statement.
Their call came after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, long backed by Iran, traded heavy fire early Sunday but backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war.
Polio vaccines for more than 1 million people have been delivered to Gaza, Israel’s military said Sunday, after the first confirmed case of the disease in the territory in a quarter-century.
It was not immediately clear how, or how quickly, the more than 25,000 vials of vaccine would be distributed in Gaza, where ongoing fighting and unrest have challenged humanitarian efforts during more than 10 months of war.
Other polio cases are suspected across the largely devastated territory after the virus was detected in wastewater in six different locations in July.
Aid groups plan to vaccinate more than 600,000 children under age 10 and have called for an urgent pause in the war to increase vaccinations. The World Health Organization and the United Nations children’s agency have said that, at a minimum, a seven-day pause is needed.
The U.N. has aimed to bring 1.6 million doses of polio vaccine into Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crowded into tent camps lacking clean water or proper disposal of sewage and garbage. Families sometimes use wastewater to drink or clean dishes.
This photo released by the European Union's Operation Aspides shows fires burning aboard the oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. The EU mission said Monday that there were no signs of an oil spill emanating from the Sounion, which came under repeated attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels amid their campaign targeting shipping over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. (European Union's Operation Aspides via AP)
FILE - People inspect their destroyed houses that were hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Aita al-Shaab village, south Lebanon, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
FILE - A civil defense worker inspects destroyed houses that were hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Chebaa, a Lebanese town near the border with Israel, south Lebanon, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, walk past sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on July 4, 2024. Israel’s military on Sunday Aug. 25, 2024 said polio vaccines for more than 1 million people had been delivered to Gaza, after the first confirmed case of the disease in the territory in a quarter-century. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
ADDS MOTHER"S NAME The mother, Iris Shitrit, center, of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed on a Hezbollah attack, mourns during the funeral of her son at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
ADDS SISTER'S NAME Hodaya, the sister of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed on a Hezbollah attack, mourns during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Iris Shitrit, seated left, the mother and relatives of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed on a Hezbollah attack, mourn during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Hodaya, the sister of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed on a Hezbollah attack, mourns during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli Navy sailors mourn during the funeral of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed on a Hezbollah attack, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
People listen to a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah broadcasted on Hezbollah's al-Manar television channel, at a coffee shop in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, hours after Israel and Hezbollah traded heavy fire. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Nominee for foreign minister Abbas Araghchi speaks in an open session of parliament during the second day of debate on the 19 proposed ministers by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024. Araghchi, 61, a career diplomat, was a member of the Iranian negotiating team that reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 that capped Tehran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
