Published on : Monday, July 22, 2019
The United States sweltered in dangerously hot weather on Sunday, with major cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington broiling in temperatures that rose into triple digits.
An oppressive heat wave stretching from the Midwestern plains to the Atlantic coast had nearly 150 million people struggling to stay cool in stifling heat that set records in a handful of states.
Around 95 million people were under a heat warning or advisory for Sunday, down from Saturday’s 157 million.
“The dangerous heat wave which enveloped much of the Midwest to the East Coast this weekend should finally break by Monday as a cold front drops southward,” the agency said.
However it warned that “showers and thunderstorms… with heavy to excessive rainfall and severe weather possible” were expected across a swath of the east coast, and flash floods were a risk.
The NWS said it had recorded all-time high temperatures on Saturday in seven places in the US including Manchester, New Hampshire, Atlantic City, New Jersey and New York’s JFK airport.
US media has blamed the heat wave for at least six deaths, including a hiker who had been found unconscious on a trail outside Washington on Saturday and two people who died earlier in the week in the eastern state of Maryland.