Vermonters — along with millions of others across the Northeast — sweated through another day of the heat wave Tuesday.
The blistering heat was especially felt in Burlington, which celebrates Independence Day a day early.
Roughly 30,000 people tend to gather on the city's waterfront for a fireworks extravaganza.
Divan James and her family from Woodford got to the waterfront about 12 hours ahead of the display to claim a prime spot for viewing.
It meant a long day in extreme heat, with lots of water, time in the shade, and dips in Lake Champlain to stay comfortable, James said.
"It's all worth it," she told necn. "The show is great. No matter where we’ve gone in the past, it's always been a great show. And the people are awesome."
The city's been sweating through a heat wave that's broken records. Burlington reached 97 degrees Monday, and never dipped below 80 – not even at, say, 1 a.m.
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That became the highest-ever low temperature for any date in the city, according to the National Weather Service.
Greg Shimel spends much of his day in front of a 450-degree oven at Ken's Pizza on the Church Street Marketplace.
Monday, it was too hot for the restaurant even to serve lunch outdoors, but they were back at it Tuesday because of the expected crowds in town for the fireworks.
Inside, a new air conditioning system for the dining room reaches the kitchen, much to Shimel's relief.
"Back in the day, we did not [have AC], and we've recorded 126 degrees in here," Shimel remembered.
Burlington's beaches were busy Tuesday, with the Slap family traveling from West Hartford, Connecticut, staying cool with a first-ever paddle boarding trip on Lake Champlain.
"It's a fantastic thing to do on a hot day, and if all the kids stay upright and have a memory like this from our visit to Vermont, it'll be a win," mom Alex Slap said, smiling.
Burlington's Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront Department firefighters and police will likely be watching for signs of heatstroke with spectators at the fireworks Tuesday night.
The city also made free water bottle-filling stations available, to help those spectators stay cool.
