U.S. heat wave breaks records and makes way to storms
The heat wave, which has blanketed about a third of the population of the United States in recent days, is due to recede on Monday in a burst of thunderstorms and cooling rain brought on by a cold front, the National Weather Service said.
On Saturday, new one-day temperature records were recorded in at least half a dozen places, including a high of 37.2°C at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and a high of 36.1°C at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Cities across the affected regions have opened public cooling centres. Around 95 million people were under a heat warning or advisory for Sunday, down from Saturday’s 157 million.
Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service (NWS) said the high temperatures would soon be over, but the severe weather would continue.
“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.
