Heat wave plaguing New Yorkers may also be causing roaches to fly

If unsolicited steam baths and especially putrid smells aren't bad enough, weather conditions along the US East Coast also threaten to bring about a phenomenon no New Yorker ever wants to see: flying cockroaches. 

The National Weather Service has issued an "Excessive Heat Warning" for the New York City area, meaning the combination of heat and humidity could make it feel like it's 105 degrees or more outside.

And as DNAinfo reports, this combination creates a perfect storm for roaches to take flight.

"In hot steam tunnels, something with the temperature and the humidity encourages them to fly," Ken Schumann, an entomologist at Bell Environmental Services, tells DNAinfo. "When it's warm and steamy that seems to be what they like."

Srini Kambhampati, a professor and chair of the biology department at the University of Texas at Tyler,says that it's possible roaches are more active in this current weather because their development depends on ambient temperature.

And, "because of the extreme heat, they may be trying to find a more comfortable place in which to live — that is, they are on the move to find a better, cooler place," he says.

Some New Yorkers have already reported flying cockroach sightings: