This week marked the fifth anniversary of the 2003 Blackout. Ten years ago the Yankees were dominating their way through summer en route to one of their best seasons in the franchise's history. But this summer, newsmakers seem to be scratching their heads when trying to figure out just what could be the New York story of the summer of 2008. The NY Times goes through some of the definitive stories of summers past from......

What a week of weather! There was the heat wave at the beginning, and yesterday a huge thunderstorm barreled into the area. Almost two inches of rain fell in Central Park; National Weather Service meteorologist John Cristantello explained to WABC 7 it was a "very slow-moving storms, so (the rain) is having time to accumulate." No kidding! The F line was partly shut down in Queens, highways were flooded, and trees were downed. Outdoor concert......

The NYC Medical Examiner's office says six residents died from the heat wave which saw temperatures soar to record-breaking levels in high humidity. The victims all died of hyperthermia (aka heat stroke)-- 57-year-old man, 74-year-old woman, and 84-year-old man in Brooklyn; a 70-year-old woman, an 84-year-old woman, and an 89-year-old man in Queens--and five of them died on Tuesday, the hottest day, in their homes. (Back in 2006, there were 20-23 heat wave-related deaths.) The......

Map from the NY Times With the unusually hot weather (20 degrees above normal) baking the city over the past few days, Con Ed has been trying to keep the power on. The NY Times has taken information from Con Ed showing the change in peak electricity demand between last week and this past Monday and mapped it. An important thing to note is that the jump looks lowest in many midtown and lower......

Last night's storms provided a vivid light show and wreaked havoc in neighborhoods all across the city and Tri-State area. There are downed trees and power lines all over--crews are working on clean up and repairs. ...

The heat is on all across the Eastern Seaboard, and temperatures in New York City reached 96 degrees yesterday (just missing a record)--and it felt like even more with its densely-packed buildings and people. There were scattered power outages: Outages for 1,400 customers were reported by Con Ed, 788 by Long Island Power Authority (which had thousands on Monday), and 75,700 by PSE&G in NJ's Essex County. ...

Photograph of last night's summer lightning in Brooklyn by dietrich on Flickr Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the this week's heat wave. Temperatures are expected to go over the 100-degree mark (though there are some predictions of of 97-degrees), and with the humidity, it may feel like it's 105 degrees. The heat advisory is in effect until 7 p.m. tonight and city cooling centers are open in all five boroughs......

Photograph of a makeshift stop sign, since traffic lights were out, at Bergen St. and Flatbush Ave. by steuben on Flickr Yesterday afternoon, a few manhole fires caused a load of problems for Brooklyn residents in the middle of a sweltering weekend. One fire, at Smith and Dean Streets in Boerum Hill, seriously compromised subway service for the G, F, and 4 lines, not to mention affected the 2 and 3 lines. WNBC explained......

Bring on the baked Big Apple references, because the "heat advisory" for Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond Counties remains in effect until 6 p.m. tonight. Another one will go into effect tomorrow between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. The heat wave is expected to last a few days, and Con Ed claims it can meet the extra electricity demand, but a spokesman adds, "Nevertheless, power problems can occur...We'll work very quickly to get them......