The Heat Wave Should Break Tomorrow

Today temperatures are expected to climb into the high 90's, and the National Weather Service has issued an air quality alert for the southern parts of Connecticut and some bigger cities are opening cooling centers.

The good news in Cheshire? The forecast for tomorrow shows showers will bring the heat down a bit in the afternoon, according to the NWS.

Wednesday:

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Some of the storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and heavy rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Wednesday night:

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 9pm. Some of the storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and heavy rain. Patchy fog after 3am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. Light north wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Imagine what the heat wave would be like without air conditioning. That was the state of things during another heat wave in 1902, a blast of scorching air along the East Coast that led to the invention of air conditioning by a low-level engineer working for a furnace company in New York City. He figured out what many other well-known great thinkers hadn't for centuries; that if you removed humidity from the air it would cool things down.

Not only did that breakthrough allow millions to enjoy the cool environs inside office buildings and public spaces, but it provided engineers the dust-free conditions that were required for the invention and widespread use of the first computers.

So while the summertime triple H conditions return today - heat, haze and humidity - and you retreat into whatever air conditioned interior you can find, give pause and a cool thanks to Willis Carrier, the engineer who invented air conditioning.