It's Heating Up Outside. Here's Why That's a Big Deal.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
Judson Jones, a meteorologist and weather reporter at The New York Times, doesn't need to tell you: It's hot out there. A heat wave crawled across swaths of the United States this week, bringing with it power outages and sauna-like streets.
Mr. Jones relies on his decades of experience, on the ground and in the (actual) clouds above, to give readers up-to-date information and context about the record-breaking temperatures.
When he first saw forecast models last week that signaled sweltering weather in the Midwest, he wrote about why it was so dangerous. And as temperatures in New York City climbed on Tuesday, with Central Park hitting its highest temperature in more than 10 years, he reported on why drier air created ripe conditions for the extremes.
Though things have since cooled a bit in New York City, many areas of the contiguous United States still experienced dangerous levels of heat on Thursday.
In an interview, Mr. Jones discussed how he had prepared to cover the stifling weather, what you can expect and how you can stay safe — and even how to enjoy a summer cocktail, provided you've had enough water first. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When did you see the heat wave coming, and how did you prepare to cover it?
Last week, the model started pointing at the big heat wave. My first story went up last Thursday. The computer forecast models did a really good job of picking up on this pattern.
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