[New York Diary] Boiling Hot New York

Recently, a 120-year-old drawbridge in New York came to a halt. It is the '3rd Avenue Bridge' connecting Manhattan and the Bronx. This bridge opens its deck whenever a ship passes through, but last week, when a heatwave with temperatures around 95°F (35°C) hit, it stopped functioning. The steel structure expanded due to the scorching heat, preventing the bridge from closing. As a result, the New York City Fire Department had to send vessels to spray large amounts of water on the bridge, and traffic was completely paralyzed for several hours as the bridge was closed to all passage.

The entire United States has been suffering from a heatwave lasting nearly ten days. On social media (SNS), a photo of bread baking on a car dashboard during record-breaking high temperatures went viral. An Arizona resident placed banana bread batter on a car dashboard on a day when the temperature rose to 100°F (38°C), and after three to four hours, the bread looked deliciously baked. When the outside temperature is 100°F, a car dashboard can reach up to 200°F (93°C). Considering that eggs fully cook at 158°F (70°C), the dashboard essentially acts as an oven.

In New York, one of the animals most affected by such heatwaves is the horse. Several iconic tourist carriages operate in Central Park, but during heatwaves, the horses' lives are at risk. Therefore, New York City enforces a mandatory suspension of tourist carriage operations when temperatures exceed a certain level. Since June 5, when temperatures surpassed 90°F (32°C), it has become difficult to find carriages in Central Park. According to New York City law, carriage operations must stop when temperatures exceed 90°F, and if the temperature is above 80°F (27°C) and the horse's body temperature index surpasses a certain threshold, carriage operations are also prohibited. The city authorities send text messages to carriage owners, who must immediately cease operations. After the death of a horse named 'Rider' in August 2022, the regulation of tourist carriage operations in Central Park has become even stricter.

New Yorkers themselves cannot escape the heatwave. Among the five boroughs of New York, residents of the Bronx, a low-income area, are considered the most vulnerable to the heat. The Bronx, primarily inhabited by low-income Hispanic and African American communities, has few trees on the streets, making it difficult to find shade. Many homes lack air conditioning. This contrasts sharply with Manhattan, which has dense high-rise buildings providing shade and large parks like Central Park. 'Climate inequality' is also evident in statistics. According to New York City authorities, 350 people die annually from heat-related causes, with significant disparities in mortality rates based on race and poverty levels. From 2013 to 2022, the heat-related death rate per one million people was 1.2 for Black residents, higher than 0.5 for White residents. Areas with poverty rates above 30% had 0.9 heat-related deaths per million, while areas with poverty rates below 10% had only 0.3. Global warming is causing unbearable heatwaves worldwide. While deadly heat is suffocating, the inequality in climate response is even more stifling.