Scorching temperatures continue in much of US

NEW YORK - On the first weekend of summer, a brutal heat wave took hold for a sixth consecutive day, continuing to scorch large swaths of the United States.

Several temperature records were broken on June 22. In the Baltimore area, temperatures went up to 38.3 deg C, breaking the previous daily record of 37.7 deg C in 1988.

Nearby Dulles, Virginia, saw temperatures of 37.7 deg C, which broke the daily record of 37.2 deg C, also in 1988. Temperatures across portions of the Midwest and Ohio Valley climbed as well, while heat continued to build in the Southern Plains and the West.

In states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, the humidity is making it feel hotter. By early afternoon on June 22, heat index values – a measure of how conditions feel with humidity taken into account – reached over 37.7 deg C in places like Philadelphia and Tampa, Florida.

In New York City, officials and utility providers are bracing the city for the lingering heat, which is expected to reach a heat index of 39.4 deg C between June 22 and 23. Already, the city has recorded temperatures it hasn’t seen in almost two years, with Central Park hitting 34.4 deg C on June 21.

Elevated temperatures raise the risk of heat-related power outages, but power grids in New York and across the country so far have largely held up.

Still, hazardous conditions remain. In Manhattan and cities including Indianapolis and Cincinnati, residents faced the highest level of health risk from the heat, according to a gauge by the National Weather Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Their measurement, called HeatRisk, rates the danger in an area on a scale from zero to four based on factors that include the duration of the heat and how unusual it is for this time of year.

CDC data also showed that heat-related illnesses spiked this week in regions like the Northeast and the Midwest – areas that have been hit the hardest by the heat wave.

Although the heat wave will not fade over the weekend, conditions are expected to cool slightly on June 24. But even if they do, the country won’t be in the clear: Forecasters expect temperatures to still hover above average in the mid-Atlantic states through the middle of next week. NYTIMES