Northern New England is about to get a break from the heat and humidity – but not before another day with heat indices inching toward 100.

Tom Hawley from the National Weather Service said Thursday will mark the seventh consecutive day that the temperature has hit 90 or higher in Concord, New Hampshire. That’s the longest stretch in 17 years.

Antonio Seda, of Southbridge, Massachusetts, relaxes in a hammock he hung up under the pier at Old Orchard Beach on Wednesday, when Portland set a new record for the high temperature, hitting 93 degrees. Staff photo by Jill Brady

The Fourth of July was a sizzler, too. Portland, Maine, hit 93 degrees for a record for the date. In Vermont, a record high was tied on Mount Mansfield, the state’s tallest peak, at 84 degrees.

Hawley said the heat will break on Friday and Saturday, and the humidity levels will drop, as well. By Saturday, it’ll be in the 70s across much of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Meanwhile, many people have been crowding the beaches to seek relief from the heat, and cooling centers have been set up throughout the state. The high temperatures also have been keeping a business like Laconia Refrigeration busy, which repairs residential and commercial equipment that’s breaking down.

“Two or three days of hot weather around here, it’s not too bad, but five or six, seven days, things can’t keep up, and it just kills compressors and fan motors,” Cliff Grenon, the business’ service manager, told WMUR-TV. He said commercial accounts are being addressed first. “A restaurant can’t survive if they lose their cooler,” he said.

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