Brace for heat in Penn Quarter Metro stations

If you're riding Metro to or from Penn Quarter today, brace for the heat.  While temperatures outside have cooled down a bit, the Judiciary Square, Gallery Place, and Archives-Navy Memorial Metro stops are all blazing hot. 

Apparently all three Metro stops operate on a single "chiller," and that chiller is broken.

"It can be uncomfortably warm, there's no doubt about that," Metro spokesperson Dan Stessel told My Fox D.C.

Judiciary Square also has broken escalators, so riders are breaking a sweat before they even get down there.

You may have noticed Metro stations are hot lately anyway.  The "chiller" operates by running air over cold water.  This brings temperatures down about fifteen degrees.  There is no thermostat and the fifteen degrees is constant despite the air temperature.  So if it's a 90 degree day, it will be a comfortable 75 in the Metro station; however, if it's a 115 degree day, it will be 100 degrees.  The chiller systems are old and have not been properly maintained.