The hot weather is expected to break late tomorrow or early Thursday.
Philadelphia city government activated special summer-heat programs, and the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging was operating a Heatline service for seniors from 9 a.m. to midnight. The number is 215-765-9040.
In the city, residents, tourists and workers coped in various ways. At mid-afternoon at JFK Plaza in Center City, young girls dipped their feet in the fountain and old women fanned themselves with newspapers.
Hannah Utain-Evans and her friend Alaina Ewins, students at the Asian Arts Initiative, positioned themselves so that sprays from the fountain blew toward them.
"We also walk into shops but don't buy anything, to get some air-conditioning," Utain-Evans said.
At the Shore, the only place to find relief was right at the shoreline. Temperatures were from 80 to 85 degrees at the water's edge.
"We played hooky," said Sandra Michaels, 48, as she sat with her husband, Bob, 53, on a beach in Ocean City's north end. The Michaelses own a window-washing business in Vineland, N.J.
"It was too hot to even think about washing windows today," Bob said, "so we packed up and came here for the day instead."
Lindsey Rigoli and Claire D'Angelo, 17-year-old Philadelphians spending part of the summer at a house in Margate, were not so happy.
"We went to the beach this morning, but it was so hot, I started to get a headache, so we came in," D'Angelo said. "Now we're doing some shopping and getting ice cream before we head back into the air-conditioning at the house."
