NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The temperature broke a record at LaGuardia Airport Monday, reaching 98 degrees for the first time on the date since meteorologists began recording weather conditions there in 1948. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the city's public pools would stay open longer than usual.
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Broiling temperatures in the 90s and beyond gripped large swaths of the country Monday, sending people scrambling for the shade and prompting officials to open air-conditioned buildings and take to the streets to rescue the homeless and elderly.
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On the streets of New York, a spot in the shade competed with a parking space as a valuable commodity. People made their way under narrow awnings, lounged under trees and took breaks beneath the umbrellas of hot dog stands.
"Any walking around today and you are just burning up,'' said Elia Escuerdo, 37, from the Bronx. ``I'm giving up. I had a doctor's appointment, but I'm just going home to sit near my air conditioner.''
The temperature reached 94 in Manhattan, with a heat index, meaning the combined effects of heat and humidity, of 99.
The heat may have caused a New York subway train to lose power, stranding commuters for more than two hours. About 70 people had to be evacuated. Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said the power loss may have been caused when the third rail, which powers the train, buckled.
In Arkansas, authorities blamed the heat on at least one death but did not release any details. On Saturday, a 3-year-old boy died in South Bend, Ind., after apparently locking himself inside a car in 90-degree heat, relatives and neighbors said.
In Illinois, state officials made more than 130 office buildings available as cooling centers Monday, while Detroit cranked up the air conditioning in 11 of its libraries and promoted them as cooling stations.
In Kentucky, Louisville officials offered free fans or air conditioners to those in immediate need.
And in Ohio, swimming pools, community centers and even the statehouse became places of refuge Monday for people seeking a break from 90-degree heat.
Fierce heat blanketed the nation from the southern Plains to the Northeast, and scores of communities reported temperatures of more than 100.
Parts of Kansas and Oklahoma hit 108, and temperatures in some areas were likely to exceed 105 through the middle of the week.
In the southeastern Colorado town of Lamar, the temperature hit 100 in the fourth straight day of triple-digit readings in the state.
Even Colorado's normally cool mountain communities felt the heat: In Aspen, about 7,800 feet elevation and 100 miles west of Denver, temperatures peaked at 89 Sunday. The average July temperature is 77.
The Northeast could get a break starting Tuesday night, with scattered showers and thunderstorms expected for parts of the region, but the heat was likely to persist in the southern Plains until Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
At the nonprofit Bishop Sullivan Center in Kansas City, Mo., officials passed out window air conditioners to the elderly.
``It's just oppressive some of the houses you walk into,'' said center director Tom Turner, who recalled one woman who was ``just dripping with sweat.''
``I thought she had been doing yard work or something,'' he said, ``but her house was just that hot.''
The Northeast experienced some of the nation's highest temperatures Monday. In New Jersey, for example, readings of 102 in Union and 101 in Logan had been record by 4 p.m.
In Manhattan, the line at the Empire State Building was short, only 15 minutes to the top. In summer months, tourists typically wait more than two hours.
Annelisa Leite, 17, said she and a friend did not want to wait around in the heat to get a glimpse of the city from on high.
``We went to Macy's instead,'' said Leite, who was visiting from Brazil. ``It was too hot to stand in line, even if the line was short.''
The federal government reported last week that the first half of 2006 was the warmest in the United States since record keeping began in 1895. The average temperature for the 48 contiguous states from January through June was 51.8 degrees, or 3.4 degrees above average for the 20th century.
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