Sweaty, overcrowded subway platforms

Think train delays and full platforms in the winter are bad? Try getting packed into a space hotter than one of those sweat lodges Oprah used to be obsessed with. At least the sweat covering everyone’s skin provides a natural lubricant for squeezing into the last spot available on the train. In the sweaty days of August, when stifling subway platforms become almost unbearable, riders are even more anxious than usual for their trains to arrive so they can cool off inside.

The "Summer of Hell" just got more hellish. Furnace like heat is turning subway stations into infernos of steaming misery as the nearly 100 degree temperatures outside are trapped underground, mixing with the exhaust of train engines and the sweltering heat of thousands of commuter's bodies. Armed with thermometers, passengers headed to the city’s biggest subway hubs mid-afternoon on Thursday, one of the hottest days of the summer, to discover just how hot, muggy and downright awful the situation really is. And this is a gross thing you’ll experience in New York City as summer arrives.