You Think the Mayor Set His House to 78?

New York City is currently being cooked like a dollar-slice pizza under a Times Square heat lamp, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani has officially entered the group chat with the most parental sentence in summer politics: set the thermostat to 78 degrees.

Yes, 78. Not 68. Not “meat locker.” Not “penguin sanctuary.” Seventy-eight — the temperature where your apartment technically has air conditioning, but your glutes are glued to your couch.

The city’s request is part of an emergency heat response as New York faces a brutal July heat wave, with daytime temperatures expected to reach around 100 degrees and heat index values potentially feeling as high as 112 degrees.

City officials warned that if Central Park hits 100, it would be the first 100-degree day recorded there since July 18, 2012. (New York City Government)

To protect the power grid, City Hall asked businesses — and New Yorkers generally — to set thermostats to 78 degrees and avoid running major appliances until early morning or late at night.

In other words: do not wash towels, bake lasagna, and blast “Dance On Me” at 4 p.m. while the city is melting.

The city also expanded cooling centers, opened extra library branches, extended large outdoor pool hours to 8:30 p.m., deployed 21 COOL vans, added volunteers for street outreach, and used over 2,200 LinkNYC kiosks to point people toward nearby cooling centers. (New York City Government)

Mamdani also urged New Yorkers to make a heat plan, stay indoors with air conditioning, hydrate, check on seniors and vulnerable neighbors, and call for help if someone appears in distress.

Health officials warned that extreme heat is not just uncomfortable — it can be deadly.

So, did the mayor set his own house to 78? That remains the great unsolved mystery of the summer….

Until then, we will do what we always do: complain, survive, and somehow still order hot coffee….