IT FEELS LIKE HELL ON EARTH! RECORD HIGHS HIT THE NORTHEAST!

Remember how hot, sticky and miserable it was Wednesday? Turns out that was probably the nicest day of the week.
After a one-day break from 90-plus degree weather, the mercury was expected to soar close to 100 Thursday and Friday - with the humidity making it feel more like 105 to 110 degrees.

Forecasters predict Friday's weather, with highs around 98, will be the steamiest yet this summer.

"The conditions are brutal out here," construction worker Jeff Attilio, 45, said Wednesday when the temperature topped out at 89.

"You want the day to be over, and to get back home to air conditioning," said the sweat-soaked Attilio. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

Whatever you do Thursday will be difficult. An excessive heat warning goes into effect Thursday afternoon through Friday night.

On the bright side, there's little chance of breaking the all-time record for July 21: A stifling 104 degrees in 1977, the infamous summer of the Son of Sam.

The record for July 22 is possibly reachable: 101 degrees, set in 1957.

The city was already baked by two days of high temperatures this week, with Central Park hitting 95 on Monday and 93 on Tuesday.


"Some people can't handle it," said Keith Kaiser, 34, a construction worker taking a break from the Second Ave. subway line project. "I've seen construction workers faint before."

There's no respite for the weather-weary until Sunday, when the temperatures are finally expected to drop below 90 - but just barely, falling to 87.

The brutal conditions are the result of a "heat dome" settling along the Eastern seaboard. A high-pressure system in the upper atmosphere causes the air below to sink, raising temperatures.

The dome, in addition to trapping the heat, pushes cooler air to the north as hot, humid air circulates beneath the slow-moving cap.

The result: Mother Nature's own sauna.

Anima Golder, a fruit vendor on Second Ave., said the weather was ruining her business - and her outlook on life.

"It's too hot to work," said Golder, 49, of the Bronx. "It's too hot to think. ... Sales are slow because no one comes outside."



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