Kentucky’s heat wave is officially over.
Last week, temperatures soared into the high 90s and low 100s in some places. Lexington hit 102 degrees on Friday, a temperature not seen since 1943, according to Spectrum News 1.
The high heat impacted multiple aspects of life. Fayette County schools canceled outdoor activities, and Asbury moved events like the activities fair indoors.
Lexington launched phase one of its heat plan, which included shifting times for city waste collections, opening up cooling centers, and taking steps to help protect the homeless in the heat.
According to WLEX, multiple care centers around the city opened their doors to people to escape the heat, and the city coordinated transportation.
The Lexington Fire Department had to adjust its responses due to the heat.
By August 23, Fox 56 reported that LFD had responded to more than 200 calls a day for the last two weeks.
Their new routine to minimize heat issues was to deploy a rehab truck, rotate crews, limit time in heat and put all live fire training on pause.
Residents were advised to avoid the heat and stay hydrated to minimize heat exhaustion or heat strokes. According to the New York Times, the heat in Lexington was classified as dangerous, meaning that “heat cramps or heat exhaustion is likely. After long exposure or exercise, heat stroke is also possible.”
These conditions impacted about “111 million people — 34 percent of the population of the contiguous United States” during the massive heatwave.
Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told PBS, “What’s happening now is certainly increasing the chances that 2023 will be the warmest year on record. My calculations suggest that there’s, right now, a 50-50 chance.”
Temperatures have since trended downward and are a more seasonal 10 degrees lower this week.