There was no letup from the sweltering heat wave frazzling much of the eastern United States on Friday, with some 90 million Americans under heat alerts nationwide.
Record-setting temperatures have already baked much of New England and parts of the Midwest, with little hope of relief into the weekend. Heat indexes — which factor in temperature and humidity — hit between 100 and 110 degrees in some places Thursday.
Parts of the Northeast were set to get some respite Friday, with highs in the 70s and 80s, according to the National Weather Service. But the temperature is forecast to rise in the mid-Atlantic, through the mid 90s Friday and perhaps into the 100s Saturday, with 64 million people still under heat alerts in the region and “record-tying or breaking temperatures possible,” the forecaster said.
Across the Ohio Valley, the NWS “Heat Risk” index was at level 4 — labeled “extreme,” the highest available — for the next two days.
“This rare and/or long-duration extreme heat with little to no overnight relief affects anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration,” it said, adding that it was likely to impact “most health systems, heat-sensitive industries and infrastructure.”
In another update Thursday, the forecaster advised people to “drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.”
