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How Vermonters responded to this week’s extreme heat

A view of the sunset on Lake Champlain with the Adirondack mountains in the background.
Guy Banville
/
iStockphoto
A view of the sunset on Lake Champlain with the Adirondack mountains in the background.

Vermont saw some of its hottest days of the summer this week in an ongoing heatwave that pushed temperatures above 90 degrees.

High heat can be dangerous, and can especially impact individuals who don't have consistent shelter.

Rebecca Mott is with the Committee on Temporary Shelter in Burlington, which provides emergency housing for people experiencing homelessness.

"In terms of the heat, yes, we have seen an increase of people coming inside at the day station...we are seeing up to 80 people a day," Mott says.

Mott says that's much higher than normal. She says staff shortages at the committee have made accommodating the extra people more challenging, but she says the day station has been able to handle it so far.

A handful of Vermont schools closed early Thursday due to the ongoing heatwave.

Karen Conroy is the superintendent of St. Johnsbury School District, where it was projected to hit 92 degrees on Thursday.

She says she decided to call a half-day after her staff and students struggled through the past few days of high temperatures.

"We've never had to call school off because of any heat concerns. It's typically not the norm in the Northeast Kingdom," Conroy says.

The Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, around Bellows Falls, also sent home kids early Thursday due to the heat. And some schools canceled their afternoon sports.

The recent spate of hot and humid weather started on Labor Day, and the National Weather Service says it may last until Saturday.

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.
Howard Weiss-Tisman is Vermont Public’s southern Vermont reporter, but sometimes the story takes him to other parts of the state.
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