Call it the Blazing 2000s.
While New York’s temperate climate may not conjure up the image of a sweltering desert, the city has seen numerous stretches of scorching temperatures almost every year since 2001 – often three or four heat waves annually and sometimes as many as half a dozen.
In the past month alone, New York has been hit with a pair of five-day heat waves, the first July 21-25 and the latest Aug. 11-15, per data from the National Weather Service.
We’ve put together the infographic below for a quick look at New York’s recent heat wave history.
- Between 2001 and 2015, the city has seen 35 heat waves. That’s more than double the 13 heat waves that hit during the 15-year-period a century ago, from 1901 to 1915.
- The latest streak is almost twice the 19 heat waves the city suffered during the 15 years the phenomenon was first formally tracked from 1876 to 1890.
- All told, New York has suffered 274 heat waves since the National Weather Service started recording the phenomena in 1876 through 2015.