Fletcher Free Library director Mary Danko stood outside the library Tuesday morning and welcomed patrons looking to cool off during the 90 degree heat.
“Are those popsicles?” she stopped to ask a delivery worker bringing several boxes inside. Danko and her fellow library employees groaned when he informed them it was printer ink.
Fletcher Free Library is one of six air-conditioned, open-to-all cooling centers open in Burlington during this week’s heat wave, though it was closed on Wednesday in observance of Juneteenth. Danko said she thought it was the ideal place to cool off, and was glad to see many residents agreed.
“On a hot day like this,” Danko said, “isn’t that the best way to spend the day — inside with a good book?”
Wednesday marked the second of three consecutive heat advisory days covering all of Vermont, with some areas seeing heat indexes above 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Across the state, residents and organizations have adjusted their routines to help themselves and their communities to stay cool until Friday, when the heat wave is expected to pass.
Though Tuesday’s temperatures were a touch lower than forecasted, NWS Burlington meteorologist Jessica Storm said the humidity pushed heat indices into the range for a heat advisory. She expected it to heat up further on Wednesday and then cool off a bit Thursday.
“Today will be kind of our peak,” Storm said on Wednesday morning, adding that NWS has forecasted heat indices in the high 90s and low 100s throughout the state.
The Champlain and Connecticut River valleys have seen the hottest temperatures so far, which Storm explained often happens in lower elevation, wide valley areas where heat can pool and linger longer than in higher, hilly areas. She also noted that parts of the region may see severe thunderstorms Wednesday as a dissipating storm system moves eastward from northern New York.
Storm said that to stay safe, Vermonters should look to limit outdoor time, wear light colored clothes and check in on their neighbors. She noted that if your house does not have air conditioning, it may continue to get warmer inside even as the weather outside starts to cool off.
Not everyone has the ability to limit outdoor time, however — people experiencing homelessness and those who work outdoors are more vulnerable than most during heat waves. Amy Lawrence, who works for Another Way, a Montpelier non-profit that offers daytime shelter for those experiencing homelessness, said Wednesday that it had been a bit busier than usual that morning.
She said that the community center would not be open Thursday, as it will be conducting staff training. But she has put up fliers around the center, including on the front door, informing people about the nearest cooling centers — such as the library, the transit center and the City Hall council chambers.
Montpelier and many other municipalities across the state have been offering cooling centers, air conditioned spaces that are free and open to all, as a resource to beat the heat.
Hartford officials posted a list of the town’s options on Facebook, including libraries, the Sherman Manning Aquatic Facility and the Bugbee Senior Center. The senior center had planned to close Wednesday in observance of Juneteenth, but executive director Mark Bradley said the heat prompted them to change those plans.
“We noticed that pretty much every other public facility was going to close,” Bradley said. “It just felt important to at least have someplace for people to go and cool off if they needed to.”
He added that they put out a call for volunteers to staff the center, not wanting to cancel the holiday for their employees, and received more sign-ups than they had shifts for. People have also been bringing water and other goods to donate.
“It’s nice to see that so many people are ready to help out,” Bradley said
Elsewhere, some people have been using more creative means to stay cool.
In Burlington’s City Hall Park on Tuesday, the splash fountain was used to its fullest extent for most of the morning. Children delighted in running through the jets, while at least one adult used them to meditate.
Around 10:30 a.m., Milton resident Ben Miller carefully studied the pattern of the fountain before sitting cross-legged directly behind one of the geysers, closing his eyes, and allowing the water to come crashing down on his head and back. He said he’d come to Burlington to buy some new sandals, but arrived before the shop opened, so he “came to say hi to the fountain.”
“This is the best place to refresh yourself,” Miller said. “It’s like the ancient Greek baths.”
Miller advised everyone nearby to join him in the fountains, but at the time he and a family with a small child were the only partakers.
“Kids don’t need a reminder” to indulge in a refreshing splash-about, he said. “They know instinctively.”
In Bennington, the fire department set up a “Beat the Heat” event behind the firehouse and sprayed sweltering residents with a hose mounted atop a fire truck’s ladder. Fire Chief Nathan Berres said the event was a no-brainer given the Tuesday afternoon heat. He estimated around 30 people came to cool off Tuesday, and the department planned more sessions for Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.
“This is a fantastic way to get out in the community and keep people cool that might not otherwise have the means to,” Berres said. “It gets the kids around the trucks, and helps to ease their minds. Which is really what the fire department’s here for.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Heat wave reaches dangerous levels statewide.