Heat Wave Stifles Much of Eastern U.S. for 3rd Consecutive Day (2024)

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Here’s what to know about the heat.

High-temperature records for the day were tied across Maine by midafternoon, with 95 degrees reported in Bangor, Houlton and Millinocket, according to National Weather Service officials in Caribou, where a reading of 96 degrees tied the highest temperature ever recorded there.

In Pittsburgh and other parts of western Pennsylvania, thousands of residents faced the double challenge of sweltering heat and lingering power outages from recent storms. Forecasters warned that the heat index, a measure of how it feels, taking into account both temperature and humidity, could be as high as 110 degrees there.

The Northeast could see cooler temperatures this weekend. But forecasters say the heat and humidity will likely move south, bringing high heat indexes to parts of the South and central Plains early in the week.

Here are the details:

• More than 78 million people were under extreme heat advisories, watches or warnings, according to the National Weather Service. That is nearly double the population of the state of California.

• Unexpected hazards: The heat, which will linger through at least the weekend in part of the region, has already caught some cities off guard. In New York City, the public pools are not open yet, but Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that some pools and beaches in other parts of the state will open early. Amtrak warned of possible delays along its service through the east coast of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine because of heat related-speed restrictions.

• Why it’s hot: The meteorological phenomenon driving the high temperatures is sometimes described as a heat dome. Pressure high in the atmosphere acts like a lid on a pot, keeping the heat from dissipating, said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s prediction center.

• Global warming’s role: In recent years, global warming has been making heat waves hotter, more frequent and longer lasting. Last year was the warmest on record, and global temperatures have continued breaking monthly records this year, too. The Weather Service has warned that this heat wave could be the longest one some places have experienced in decades.

• Summer warning signs: Heat waves in mid-June are not unprecedented, but the duration of this one suggests that summer could be particularly brutal. And while the temperatures may soon ebb in a few places — including the northern reaches of New England — most people in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions can expect higher-than-usual temperatures at least through the end of this month, Mr. Pereira said.

For some in Cincinnati, escaping the heat is not an easy option.

To combat the heat, he soaked his head with a cold towel, and then wrapped it around his neck. The workers in the ditch, where the air was still, were especially feeling the heat. So Mr. Daugherty set up a shade tent with a blower that had a five-gallon bucket of ice behind it to blow cool air. His crew took plenty of water breaks, he said, and ate several electrolyte Popsicles.

As the heat index — a measure of how it feels, taking into account both temperature and humidity — reached as high as 100 in southwestern Ohio, some residents had to scramble to find alternate places for relief. The Cincinnati Public Library has 40 branches that are doubling as cooling centers this week, but they were closed for the Juneteenth holiday.

In Hamilton, Ohio, air-conditioners were humming at the New Life Mission, which provides those in need with food, social services and, on days like Wednesday, a cool place to escape the heat. A team of volunteers served meals of pork chops, rice and cold drinks to over 100 people who came in.

Chris Adkins, 48, who is unemployed and lives in a tent by the Great Miami River, relished being able to sit in the cool dining room of New Life on Wednesday.

“For me, the heat is worse than cold,” Mr. Adkins said. “You can always build a fire when it’s cold.”

“A lot of places don’t want us around, and it gets very hot in a tent,” he added.

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In Chicago, some brave the outdoors despite sweltering temperatures.

“You really need your electrolytes today,” Ms. Shields said.

Despite the stifling temperatures, several cooling centers in the city were closed for the Juneteenth holiday, leaving just one open. The Chicago Public Library, whose branches normally provide relief from the heat for some, was also closed.

But several park district pools and field houses were open, according to Mary May, a spokeswoman for Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Ms. May added that if the National Weather Service issues an excessive heat warning, the city’s emergency response plan would be activated, forcing the opening of more cooling centers.

As midday temperatures approached 90 degrees, Patricio Cornejo led a group of about 20 tourists on a walking tour of the financial district.

In an effort to stay cool, the group, native Spanish speakers from Spain, Latin America and Mexico, took more water breaks and spent more time inside the lobbies of buildings like the Rookery Building.

Mr. Cornejo, who carried an umbrella for shade, said Wednesday’s tour had not been as hot as others he had led this week. “It’s not so bad but the guests are still complaining,” he said. “We just need to take more breaks.”

Still, several spots in the city appeared emptier than usual, including Rosetta Italian, a popular restaurant in Chicago’s Loop, and Daley Plaza, which typically buzzes with workers on their lunch break.

Jaxx Allen, a 37-year-old paralegal, did not mind sitting outside in the empty plaza.

“After surviving our winters, we live for the summer here,” he said.

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And in Pocatello, Idaho, the temperature dropped to a record low of 31 degrees this morning.

You’re not imagining it. Summers are getting hotter.

Not every summer is hotter today; some areas still see average or colder than average seasons from June through August. But the distribution of summer temperatures has shifted so that many more places endure hot summers more often than they did in the past. And the most drastic change has occurred at the hottest extreme.

Less than 1 percent of summers in the middle of the 20th century were extremely hot for their location, according to the analysis, compared with more than a quarter of summers over the last decade.

This summer is again expected to be hotter than average across much of the United States, and in other parts of the world, too.

Globally, each of the past 12 months has been the warmest on record for that month. And 2023 was the hottest year since modern record-keeping began in the mid-1800s.

“Extreme heat is one of the most direct ways in which we are experiencing the impacts of global warming,” said Deepti Singh, who leads the Climate Extremes Lab at Washington State University.

And it’s also one of the clearest signals of how the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities are changing the planet’s climate, she added.

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Here’s how heat affects the brain.

“Many of us think that we are immune to heat,” said Dr. Cedeño, now an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health and justice at Rutgers University. “So something that I wanted to test was whether that was really true.”

It turns out even young, healthy college students are affected by high temperatures. During the hottest days, the students in the un-air-conditioned dorms, where nighttime temperatures averaged 79 degrees, performed significantly worse on the tests they took every morning than the students with A.C., whose rooms stayed a pleasant 71 degrees.

A heat wave is once again blanketing the Northeast, South and Midwest. High temperatures can have an alarming effect on our bodies, raising the risk for heart attacks, heatstroke and death, particularly among older adults and people with chronic diseases. But heat also takes a toll on our brains, impairing cognition and making us irritable, impulsive and aggressive.

How heat hurts our cognition

Numerous studies in lab settings have produced similar results to Dr. Cedeño’s research, with scores on cognitive tests falling as scientists raised the temperature in the room. One investigation found that just a four-degree increase — which participants described as still feeling comfortable — led to a 10 percent average drop in performance across tests of memory, reaction time and executive functioning.

This can have real consequences. R. Jisung Park, an environmental and labor economist at the University of Pennsylvania, looked at high school standardized test scores and found that they fell 0.2 percent for every degree above 72 Fahrenheit. That might not sound like a lot, but it can add up for students taking an exam in an un-air-conditioned room during a 90-degree heat wave.

In another study, Dr. Park found that the more hotter-than-average days there were during the school year, the worse students did on a standardized test — especially when the thermometer climbed above 80 degrees. He thinks that may be because greater exposure to heat was affecting students’ learning throughout the year.

The effect was “more pronounced for lower income and racial minority students,” Dr. Park said, possibly because they were less likely to have air-conditioning, both at school and at home.

Why heat makes us aggressive

Researchers first discovered the link between heat and aggression by looking at crime data, finding that there are more murders, assaults and episodes of domestic violence on hot days. The connection applies to nonviolent acts, too: When temperatures rise, people are more likely to engage in hate speech online and honk their horns in traffic.

Lab studies back this up. In one 2019 experiment, people acted more spitefully toward others while playing a specially designed video game in a hot room than in a cool one.

So-called reactive aggression tends to be especially sensitive to heat, most likely because people tend to interpret others’ actions as more hostile on hot days, prompting them to respond in kind.

Kimberly Meidenbauer, an assistant professor of psychology at Washington State University, thinks this increase in reactive aggression may be related to heat’s effect on cognition, particularly the dip in self control. “Your tendency to act without thinking, or not be able to stop yourself from acting a certain way, these things also appear to be affected by heat,” she said.

What’s happening in the brain

Researchers don’t know why heat affects our cognition and emotions, but there are a couple of theories.

One is that the brain’s resources are being diverted to keep you cool, leaving less energy for everything else. “If you’re allocating all of the blood and all the glucose to parts of your brain that are focused on thermoregulation, it seems like it’s very plausible that you just wouldn’t have enough left for some of these kind of higher cognitive functions,” Dr. Meidenbauer said.

You could also be distracted and irritable because of how hot and miserable you feel. It turns out that’s actually one of the brain’s coping responses. If you can’t get cool, your brain will “make you feel even more uncomfortable so that finding the thing you need to survive will become all consuming,” explained Shaun Morrison, a professor of neurological surgery at Oregon Health and Science University.

Heat’s effect on sleep could play a role, too. In the Boston study, the hotter it got, the more students’ sleep was disrupted — and the worse they performed on the tests.

The best way to offset these effects is to cool yourself off, as soon as possible. If you don’t have access to air-conditioning, fans can help, and be sure to stay hydrated. It might sound obvious, but what matters most for your brain, mood and cognition is how hot your body is, not the temperature outside.

Crews rush to restore power in Pittsburgh as temperatures soar.

At one point, more than 85,000 people were without power in the area. By Wednesday morning, the reported outages were reduced to about 6,700, according to Duquesne Light Company, which supplies electricity to the region.

In a statement, Duquesne urged customers without power to “consider alternate arrangements to stay cool and safe” and to “avoid opening refrigerator and freezer doors,” adding that food will stay frozen for up to 48 hours if the door remains closed. ​

Pittsburgh has opened several cooling centers across the city, and there are more than a dozen other sites in the suburbs. Allegheny County, which includes the Pittsburgh area, is staffing its public pools with additional lifeguards to allow the guards to take more breaks from the heat, said Abigail Gardner, a county spokeswoman.

“We want to make sure they are staying safe as well,” she said.

Even as repair crews continued to make progress restoring power in the area on Wednesday, Duquesne warned of possible delays and additional outages. “With the potential for more storms and heat-related issues this week, the estimated time of restoration could move into next week,” the company said.

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Maine takes precautions for the heat, including changes to a Juneteenth event.

It’s been a few years since Maine has experienced a heat wave this extreme, according to Vanessa Corson, the Maine Emergency Management Agency’s public information officer.

In 2022, the state had a particularly wet summer, which followed a drought the year before. “It’s been this roller coaster every summer, where we’re not sure what to expect,” Ms. Corson said.

Around the state, cooling centers are opening in libraries, town halls, civic centers, Y.M.C.A.s, fire departments and other public buildings to give people a chance to escape the heat.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Maine Emergency Management Agency website listed 69 cooling centers with plans to open at various times Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Rural areas of the state are of particular concern, Ms. Corson said, because the distance some people will have to drive to find a cooling center may deter them. In those cases, she said, people are encouraged to find any air-conditioned building nearby.

In Lewiston, Maine Inside Out, an arts-based nonprofit, hosts an annual Juneteenth festival that includes a parade, art and theater activities and an afternoon block party.

Noah Bragg, one of the co-directors of Maine Inside Out, said the event always employs a safety team, but this year its focus has turned to the heat.

During a walk-through of the event on Tuesday, Bragg said coordinators made the decision to move several scheduled events indoors. They also shortened the parade’s route so participants don’t have to spend as much time walking in the heat.

“We can continue parading in the park where there’s shade rather than the street where there isn’t,” Mr. Bragg said.

He also said the Juneteenth event will have extra water, cooling tents and kiddie pools available, and organizers are publicizing the location and hours of nearby cooling centers.

Mr. Bragg said he wasn’t sure whether the heat would affect turnout to the festival, but he hopes “people make the best choices for themselves.”

Last year’s Juneteenth event was on a rainy day, he said, so coordinators were hoping for better weather this year.

“I hoped we’d have a nice, sunny day,” he said. “We got what we were hoping for, to kind of an extreme.”

Michael Clair, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, says Concord-area residents should expect more of the same Thursday. In fact, Clair warned, things might heat up a bit.

But several park district pools and field houses were open, according to Mary May, a spokeswoman for Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Ms. May added that if the National Weather Service issues an excessive heat warning the city’s emergency response plan would be activated, forcing the opening of more cooling centers.

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In Lewiston, Maine, changes were made to a Juneteenth celebration because of the heat wave. A parade’s route will be shortened, and several parts of the celebration will now take place indoors, according to a coordinator for the event.

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Most New York City pools are still closed as temperatures soar.

Mayor Eric Adams announced on Tuesday that the city would devote $1 billion to improving the city’s network of public pools over the next five years, though the new funding won’t help sweltering residents this year. Eventually, it will cover the costs of building two new indoor pools and renovating existing facilities.

“New York City’s pools and beaches are incredible places for New Yorkers to come together, learn to swim and beat the heat — and as climate change makes heat waves like this week’s more common and more severe, the need for pools has never been greater,” said Mr. Adams in a statement on Tuesday.

Like cities across the country, New York also faces an ongoing lifeguard shortage. Last year, pools opened when the city had around half the 1,000 lifeguards they usually have on hand, prompting parks officials to close sections of some pools. Now, the city says it is in better shape after it agreed to raise lifeguard wages for the second time in two years, this time to $22 per hour. The city will also offer a $1,000 retention bonus to lifeguards who worked last year and who agree to remain on duty through this year’s peak season.

Indoor swimming pools are open year-round, though there are far fewer of them in the city and most New Yorkers must pay an annual membership fee to use them. Adults 65 and older qualify for a discounted rate, and people 24 and younger can swim for free.

On Tuesday, New Yorkers were already suffering from elevated temperatures as the heat index in parts of the city surpassed 90 degrees. With pools closed, families sought out fountains and shade in parks. Governor Kathy Hochul said admission and parking at New York State Parks would be free on Wednesday and Thursday.

Praise Mkandawire, 28, watched her three children jump through sprinklers and play with water toys at a park in Harlem. Her family recently moved to New York from North Carolina and are used to the heat.

“At least here there’s splash pads close by, so we’re taking advantage,” she said.

Though it might feel as if summer is already in full swing, New York’s outdoor pools aren’t opening any later than they have in recent years. They opened on June 29 last year, and June 28 in 2022.

The increased funding announced Tuesday isn’t set to change when pools open, but Councilman Shekar Krishnan proposed legislation this year that would both open the pools earlier in the year and keep them open longer each day.

“On the most sweltering days in New York City, like what we’re experiencing this week, New Yorkers escape to our public pools and beaches to cool off,” Mr. Krishnan, whose district is in Queens, said in a statement. “But pools are useless, and beaches are dangerous, if they are closed and unstaffed.”

Currently, outdoor pools are set to open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, with an hour for cleaning starting at 3 p.m. Mr. Krishnan’s proposal would require that they open at 8 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Camille Baker contributed reporting.

The United States is facing hotter heat waves, but one of the worst was in 1936.

The heat wave, which pushed temperatures to 100 degrees in Illinois and 120 degrees as far north as North Dakota, left some 5,000 people dead.

In New York, a high of 106 degrees was recorded in Central Park. Desperate for relief, people slept on roofs and fire escapes and flocked to public pools, which stayed open until midnight. New York City recorded 21 drownings as adults and children who didn’t know how to swim but were desperate to cool off jumped into the water.

The Dust Bowl, the drought in the Great Plains that was partially caused by agriculture practices, appeared to supercharge the heat wave. Its duration made it especially challenging: Temperatures hit 100 degrees for 12 straight days in Springfield, Ill., according to the National Weather Service.

Altered farming methods and better cooling technology may have staved off repeats of the 1936 heat wave since then. But the United States has had longer and more frequent heat waves in recent decades as the planet warms, according to government data.

In the summer of 2023, a ferocious, sustained heat wave settled over the Southwest. Phoenix logged temperatures of at least 110 degrees for 31 straight days, from June to July, smashing an 18-day modern record the city had set in 1974. Maricopa County, which surrounds Phoenix, reported 404 heat-related deaths in July.

The global air temperature likely was the hottest in modern times, scientists said.

This year, it seems, the United States may be in for another blistering summer.

An early-season heat wave has arrived in the Northeast and Midwest. In Chicago, the temperature hit a record-breaking 97 degrees on Monday. In New York, a high of 96 was forecast for Friday.

The period could be most punishing for a region stretching along the Ohio River and continuing into upstate New York and New England. Among the cities in the cross hairs were Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

This heat wave could be similar to one in June 1994 that roasted Pittsburgh. That year, the temperature in the city reached 95 degrees for six straight days, a stretch of highs that could be matched or eclipsed this week, according to the local National Weather Service office.

Over the last three decades, concerns have grown about the dangers of extreme heat in urban areas.

In July 1995, a severe heat wave enveloped Chicago, hitting the city’s senior population especially hard. Neighborhoods lost power, hospitals filled up and, one day, the temperature reached a sticky 106 degrees. Morgues filled, and the death toll was later estimated at 739.

Because many of the people who died were older residents living alone, the heat wave served as a “turning point” in how many people think about heat waves, said Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.

“The social and economic structure of society has a big impact on who dies,” she said.

Another factor influencing the human costs of heat waves: the novelty of extreme heat in regions not used to them.

Three years ago, typically mild Portland, Ore., was caught off-guard when the temperature climbed to 116 degrees. Researchers said that the heat was almost certainly energized by global warming and that there was 0.1 percent chance of such an event in any given year in the region.

One day, the high temperature at Portland International Airport was about 40 degrees warmer than normal. Although the heat wave only lasted a few days, it still had a devastating effect in the Pacific Northwest, where some do not have air-conditioning.

The medical examiner in Multnomah County, which includes Portland, attributed 69 deaths to the record-breaking temperatures. Before 2021, deaths from heat in the county were rare, with none recorded in 2016 or 2018, according to the medical examiner.

Most of the people who died in 2021 lacked air-conditioning, the medical examiner reported.

Portland’s unusual weather fulfilled old predictions that climate change would ultimately intensify heat waves in places where extreme heat was unfamiliar, climate experts said.

The 1936 heat wave may loom large in the history of U.S. heat waves. But J. Marshall Shepherd, the director of the University of Georgia’s atmospheric sciences program, said it should not be held up as an argument against evidence that climate change is now driving more extreme weather.

“Grass grows naturally, too,” he said, comparing grass to heat waves. “But when we fertilize our lawns, it grows differently.”

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How to stay cool indoors during the heat wave.

Starting Tuesday, cooling centers — indoor, air-conditioned spaces for public use — will be open during the day in New York. The city’s fire department is also turning some fire hydrants into water sprinklers. If you’re staying at home, here’s what you can do to stay as cool as possible indoors, whether you have an AC or not.

What’s the ideal temperature for your home?

While you should do what feels most comfortable for you, Carrier, an air-conditioner manufacturer, suggests on its website that 72 degrees is the generally accepted “comfortable indoor temperature for many people.” It continues, “It strikes a good balance between comfort and energy efficiency, making it a popular choice for residential settings.”

If you’re away from your home, set your thermostat for higher than usual to save energy and to prevent your AC unit from potentially busting. At night, because heat can disrupt sleep, 60 to 67 degrees is recommended by the Cleveland Clinic.

How do you keep your furry friends safe?

It depends on the animal, and its size and type, but pets are generally less tolerant of higher temperatures than humans.

Dogs, the most common pet in the country, tend to overheat when the temperature is between 81 and 85 degrees, according to the American Kennel Club. “An ideal temperature doesn’t exist for all dogs, since their normal body temperature will vary according to size,” the organization states on its website. It also suggests installing a temperature alarm that can notify your phone if your AC fails and you’re not at home to notice.

How do you maintain your AC?

If your AC is broken, it might be too late to find a repairman to fix it in time for the heat wave, but going forward, experts recommend servicing your AC unit once a year. A technician will typically check for and diagnose issues with the system, clean it and change out the filter.

Depending on your unit, you may be able to change your filter yourself. Carrier suggests inspecting your filter every two to three months, and certain factors might affect how often you’ll need to change it. (For example, if you have a pet, you may need to replace the filter more frequently because of its shedding.) You can look for an online guide on how to change the filter — whether it is for a window unit, floor-mounted or other. Just make sure to turn your system off first.

What can you do if you don’t have an AC?

You can close your blinds or cover your windows to minimize your exposure to direct sunlight. Stick-on solar film, which can be bought online or at home-improvement stores, is also an option. This can deflect infrared heat that would otherwise come in through your windows.

What are some things to avoid indoors?

Steer clear of using appliances that generate heat, such as an oven, clothes dryer, iron or blow dryer. New York Times Cooking has a list of “No-Cook Recipes for a Heat Wave” so you can prep a meal without turning on your stove top.

Try to avoid dark fabrics for curtains, upholstery or clothing, as they can absorb heat more easily. You can also turn off lights — having too many on close together can heat the surrounding air.

Avoid thick covers and blankets. Percale sheets tend to be more breathable, and Wirecutter has a guide for bedsheets for hot sleepers.

Can I report my landlord if my apartment is unreasonably hot?

While some cities, like Dallas, have air-conditioning requirements for rental apartments, New York City does not. (Landlords in New York are legally obligated to provide heat and hot water.) But if you live in an apartment that had an AC when you moved in, landlords are responsible for maintaining it and replacing it if it’s broken.

If they refuse to fix it or are unresponsive, you have options. Ronda Kaysen, a real estate reporter and former “Ask Real Estate” columnist, suggests paying to replace the AC unit yourself if you can then negotiate your rent, asking for the same amount for the upcoming year. You could also take your landlord to court, but that could be more time-consuming and expensive than paying to fix it yourself.

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A short guide to understanding heat domes.

What is a heat dome?

A heat dome is a high pressure system way up in the atmosphere that helps create and encase heat, kind of like a lid on a pot that holds in steam.

Heat domes “on the order of 1,000 miles across” can form under high pressure weather systems, said Hosmay Lopez, an oceanographer and expert on extreme heat and climate change with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They become anchored in place, building up heat, sometimes for weeks at a time.

The term “heat wave” describes a rise in temperature in the weather pattern, and the term “heat dome” refers to a high pressure system that traps heat. The terms are often used interchangeably.

How do heat domes form?

When a high pressure system moves into an area, it pushes warm air toward the ground. With the sinking air acting like a cap, the warm air can’t easily escape, and it continues to heat up the more it is compressed.

“You can actually repeat this process on a small scale,” said Greg Carbin, forecast operations chief at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. “When you’re inflating a flat tire, as the air goes in and the pressure builds, the molecules move faster, they are closer together, and they heat up.”

This high atmospheric pressure is linked to the configuration of the jet streams, bands of speedy winds that form high in the atmosphere in areas where cold air and hot air meet. The jet streams tend to be narrow, wavy corridors of air that move west to east and migrate north to south. Sometimes jet streams can expand, becoming slower, or even stagnant, and heavier.

Can heat domes happen anywhere?

Yes, they can, but areas that are farther from water, have flatter topography and are south of where jet streams migrate in the summer are more prone to oppressive heat domes. In the United States, that area is the Central Plains.

The heat domes that have covered the Pacific Northwest in recent years still baffle meteorologists, Mr. Carbin said, because the mountainous topography of the region is the opposite of what is usually conducive to heat domes.

Heat domes are associated with climate change. In the 1970s, there was one heat wave for every cold wave. As climate change accelerates, “that ratio is more than two to one, and for some places, it’s three to one,” Dr. Lopez said.

Are heat domes dangerous?

Yes. Heat stress is the most common cause of weather-related deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Because heat domes are associated with stagnating air, they can also lead to reduced air quality, dryness and a greater chance of fire. “Those stains are very detrimental for human health, especially for the elderly and people with preconditions like cardiopulmonary illnesses,” Dr. Lopez said.

Read about staying safe in a heat wave here.