I live in Phoenix. It was clearly not too hot to go outside in Phoenix for over a month as I got up every day, same as usual, walked the dog out usual 2.5 miles, same as usual, for ready for work, went to work which requires walking to the bus stop, a 15-20 min walk at a decent clip cause I'm always running late, worked, then came home which involves waiting iutside for the bus for nearly 30 min, then repeating that 15-20 min walk in the best of the day (I get off at 3:30 unless I work OT), and then walking the dog abother 2.5 miles in the late afternoon when it's still well over 100°.
Every day. Without fail. Well, weekends were spent at the skate park or the dog park usually, which means 'outside'.
It was NOT too hot to go outside.
You have to mind the heat and stay hydrated but that's true every summer and it's true where you live in NY too. You just generally feel heat stress faster than we do as a result of higher humidity.
We did have more deaths due to hear this year, but what the news consistently fails to report is that the homeless population has increased, some new drugs have hit the streets that don't mix well with the heat, and red states are dumping their 'problems' onto blue and purple states. Care facilities are perpetually understaffed and that will affect outcomes, something happened with the migratory corridor this year as it seems like fewer homeless and migrant workers moved north during the summer months than usually do, people are not addressing their co-morbidities, etc.
No doubt extreme heat is a population weeder as much as extreme cold is. It will take the weak, the very young, and the extremely old. I think the important point here is that it was not so hot that there was a widespread event endangering the lives of normal healthy people. The fact is, we have an unhealthy population as well as a large older population of people who retired to a warmer climate to avoid winters and heavy snows up north and a lot of addict homeless and migrants relying on city infrastructure to make it.
