COLUMBUS – The first day of October in Ohio, which typically evokes thoughts of brisk autumn temperatures, falling leaves and steamy pumpkin-spiced beverages, felt more like July.
Hot temperatures and high humidity prompted school districts, including the state’s largest, to cancel classes and others to shorten the school day.
The National Weather Service warned that Tuesday, Oct. 1, may turn out to be the hottest October day in recorded history in central and southwest Ohio with heat indices approaching triple digits.
The weather service was predicting that high temperatures in Columbus and Cincinnati could shatter 135-year-old records by 2 or 3 degrees as heat indices soared into the mid- to upper-90’s, as much as 30 degrees above normal for early October.
Columbus City Schools closed Tuesday due to prolonged heat and humidity and a lack of air-conditioning in many of the district’s buildings.
The greatest challenge is not just the hot temperatures during the day, but how hot and humid it stays into the evening. Our schools simply cannot cool off at night,” superintendent Dr. Talisa Dixon said in announcing the cancellation of classes.
The district has said it doesn’t have the money to add air conditioning in all of its 109 schools.
Administrators, custodians and bus drivers were required to report for work but teachers, secretaries, and other staff had the day off. After-school activities, including athletics, were cancelled.
Dixon says she and district leaders will continue to monitor building conditions.
Some individual schools in Akron and Cleveland also canceled classes Tuesday and at least one district in the Cincinnati area planned to dismiss its schools early.
Legislation has been introduced in Ohio in recent months to begin discussions on ways of fixing school construction around the state to include air conditioning and other necessities.