US heat records likely to be broken

Forecasters are predicting record-high daily temperatures in New York City and other parts of the Northeast on Sunday as a nationwide scorching was likely to peak in many places around the US.
New York City — where officials on Saturday confirmed a heat-related death — was forecast to break by a couple of degrees its previous July 24 record of 36°C, which was set in 2010, Richard Bann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said on Saturday. (The all-time high 41°C was set in July 1936, as per weather services).
Officials across US braced for the high temperatures, which followed several days of aheat wave. About 66 million people live in areas that had dangerous levels of heat on Saturday, meaning a heat index of at least 39. 4°C. The heat index is a measure of how hot it really feels outside, taking into account humidity and temperature.
Large sections of the Midwest, including Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, are facing such levels of heat, along with areas from Southern California to the coast of North Carolina. Several other areas, inclu- ding parts of the Texas panhandle and the Tennessee Valley, were expected to approach or break daily temperature records on Sunday, Bann said.
Temperatures on Monday should be almost as high as Sunday, but then moderate after that, he said. “It’s Tuesday by the time we get a push of cooler air into the Northeast and parts of the Mid-Atlantic,” he said. Philadelphia declared a heat emergency, mayor Jim Kenney said on Thursday. The action activates several city services designed to keep people safe, including making li- braries available as cooling stations and placing air-conditioned buses throughout the city. The city was forecast to hit 38°C before even factoring in humidity, officials said.
The Boston Triathlon, scheduled for Sunday, was postponed until August 21 “due to the current historic weather conditions,” organisers said. Boston on Thursday extended a heat emergency, which was announced on Monday, to last through Sunday. The National Weather Service said the heat index in Boston on Sunday could reach 40. 5°C.