The heat wave hitting Columbus is expected to keep temperatures above 90 degrees for the rest of the week.
In response to the heat, Columbus Recreations and Parks are opening five community centers across the city. The centers will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday through Friday. The cooling centers are located at:
- Dodge Community Center, 667 Sullivant Ave., 43215
- Driving Park Community Center, 1100 Rhoads Ave., 43206
- Glenwood Community Center, 1888 Fairmont Ave., 43223
- Linden Community Center, 1350 Briarwood Ave., 43211
- Marion Franklin Community Center, 2801 Lockbourne Road, 43207
Also on those days, the Dodge and Driving Park pools will waive the $1 admission fees from 4 to 7:30 p.m.
NBC4 Meteorologist Ben Gelber said because of heat wave people should take precautions.
“With the high temperatures and increasing humidity over the next several days, push the heat index to around 100 which gets into the danger zone if you overexert during the heat of the day, particularly between noon and five or six o'clock and don't replenish fluids that are easily lost,” Gelber told WOSU.
This summer has had a higher- than -normal number of days above 90 degrees as well, Gelber said.
“As of today, this will be our 29th, 90- degree -plus day in Columbus, our average is 20 and we will likely hit 90 to 95 Thursday and Friday,” he said. “So that will put us well above average but not in record territory.“
Gelber also said that humidity has actually been lower than it has been in previous months.
“We're in a drought, so there's very little moisture for the atmosphere to draw upwards,” Gelber explained. “So this is closer to a dry heat than we usually experience.
Gelber also brought up a strange phenomenon that has been contributing to the heat index throughout the Midwest.
“Evapotranspiration is the fancy term for corn sweat, moisture given up by crops that enters the lower atmosphere,” Gelber said. “But that also feeds complexes of thunderstorms that bring about half or more of the Midwest rainfall, including us as the storm systems move east southeast out of the Upper Midwest into portions of the Ohio Valley and occasionally all the way to the Atlantic coast and we'll see a few of these thunderstorm systems move more to the north of central Ohio over the next couple of days”
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Gelber said that corn sweat is not to blame for Columbus’ recent heat wave, however.
The heat wave is expected to break by Labor Day weekend, with temperatures dropping into the 80s.