PHILADELPHIA —
The heat that blanketed much of the U.S. will begin easing up this week as temperatures approach normal from the Midwest to the East Coast.
Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Camp Springs, Md., said Sunday night that a cold front through the South and the Mid-Atlantic will bring thunderstorms and showers.
It “will break the heat wave we’ve had,” he said, dropping temperatures there to a more normal range of mid- to upper-80s. The Southeast and Tennessee Valley will be in the low 90s, “still fairly warm,” Orrison said, but not as hot as it has been.
The Midwest can expect cooler weather, as well, with temperatures in the 80s.
The cooler air began sweeping southward Sunday in the eastern half of the country, bringing down some temperatures by 15 or more degrees from Saturday’s highs, which topped 100 in cities including Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Louisville, Ky.
The heat of the past several days has been blamed for at least 46 deaths across the country.
In Chicago, the Cook County medical examiner’s office determined Sunday that eight more people died from heat-related causes, adding to the 10 deaths previously confirmed Saturday. The deaths included a 100-year-old woman, 65-year-old woman, a 53-year-old man, a 46-year-old woman and an unidentified man believed to be about 30 years old.
In Tennessee, the third heat-related death of the year was a 62-year-old woman found dead in her home. She had a working air conditioner, but it was not turned on.
Deaths have also been reported by authorities in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
To stay cool, Americans tried familiar solutions — dipping into the pool, going to the movies and riding subways just to be in air conditioning.
Gregory Englebach relaxed on a bench Sunday evening near the Starbucks coffee shop in Philadelphia where he’d worked all day, enjoying temperature that had dipped below 90 degrees.
It’s the humidity that gets me,” said the 24-year-old Englebach. He said he thinks his electric bill has already gone up by $30 or $30 because of his increased use of electricity at home. But he’s resigned to it: “It’s air conditioning or I can’t sleep at night,” he said.
It was a steamy 80-plus degrees in New York City on Sunday night. Some visitors to the city said they’d spent much of the weekend shopping in air-conditioned stores rather than exploring Central Park as they had planned.
“But that’s OK, shopping is always good in New York,” said Linda Boteach of Baltimore, waiting to board a bus that was spewing exhaust into the already hot night.
“It was worse in Baltimore,” Boteach said. “It’s all relative.”
National, International News
Related Photos
-
From left, Nick Owensby, 14, Chance Mathis, 9, and Cameron Mathis, 10, take a cooling dip in the stream flowing from Glendale Shoals in Glendale, S.C.. Their mother, Shannon Mathis of Cowpens, took the brothers out for a cool-down from the afternoon heat, Sunday, July 8, 2012. The Associated Press
Discussion
Temperatures across U.S. cool slightly but still hot
- National, International News
-
-
Rare Superman comic found in house insulation
It’s considered the Holy Grail of comic books: Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, featuring the debut of Superman. David Gonzales found one mixed in with old newspapers insulating the ceiling of a house he was renovating in a small town in Minnesota.
-
Toronto mayor denies he smokes crack cocaine
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied Friday that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict after a video purported to show him using the drug. The mayor of Canada’s largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack.
-
16 hurt in shuttle bus crash near Atlanta airport
Sixteen people were taken to the hospital Friday, at least two in serious condition, after they were hurt in a crash between a hotel shuttle bus and a tractor-trailer near Atlanta’s airport, officials said.
-
Trucker bumps I-5 bridge, sees horror behind him
The trucker was hauling a load of drilling equipment when his load bumped against the steel framework over an Interstate 5 bridge. He looked in his rearview mirror and watched in horror as the span collapsed into the water behind him. Two vehicles fell into the icy Skagit River.
-
Judge: Ariz. sheriff’s office profiles Latinos
A federal judge ruled Friday that the office of America’s self-proclaimed toughest sheriff systematically singled out Latinos in its trademark immigration patrols, marking the first finding by a court that the agency racially profiles people.
-
Today in History for Saturday, May 25, 2013
Today is Saturday, May 25, the 145th day of 2013. There are 220 days left in the year.
-
Man shot by FBI had ties to Boston bombing suspect
A Chechen immigrant shot to death in Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent implicated himself in a triple slaying that officials believe may have been connected to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, authorities said.
-
WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus
International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.
-
Jurors deadlock on Jodi Arias penalty; retrial set
Jurors who spent five months determining Jodi Arias’ fate couldn’t decide whether she should get life in prison or die for murdering her boyfriend, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case of sex, lies and violence to another 12 people.
-
I-5 bridge collapses in Washington state
An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
- More National, International News Headlines
-
