The deadly, multiday heat wave tightened its grip on the eastern United States on Friday, breaking records, sending people to the emergency room and raising the risk for millions of people starting to celebrate the Fourth of July outdoors.
More than a dozen locations in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast broke or tied their high temperature records for Friday, including Washington, DC. The capital hit 102 degrees, surpassing the 101-degree record set in 1872.
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The most extreme heat shifts a bit south on Saturday, staying high for DC with a forecast high of 102 degrees, which would make it the hottest July Fourth in the city’s history. Philadelphia and New York City are expected to be near 100 degrees with heat indices near 105.
Meteorologist Tony Nargi says the high temperatures on Fourth of July will reach the upper 90s to low 100s, with heat indices surpassing 110 degrees. This is dangerous heat, stay cool and be careful out there. An extreme heat warning is in effect until 8 PM. We'll see mostly sunny skies and hazy conditions for most of the day. This afternoon after 3 PM some isolated storms capable of producing severe wind gusts will be possible, particularly on the peninsulas. Winds will be light out of the SW at 5-10 mph. Overnight skies will clear out and lows will drop into the 70s.
Watch: Very hot Independence Day with isolated storms possible
- Heat-related illness and death: A 68-year old man died after trimming bushes on July 2 in Bethel Township, Pennsylvania, where high temperatures passed 100 degrees, the Berks County Coroner’s Office told CNN. The cause of death was a heart attack from strain “due to heat exhaustion,” the office said. Meanwhile, the CDC reported “extremely high rates of heat-related illness” in regions across the Northeast on Thursday.
- Events canceled or delayed: The July Fourth parade set for Saturday morning in Washington, DC, was canceled due to extreme heat in the nation’s capital. President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair is opening two hours late at 12 p.m. Philadelphia canceled its Friday Independence Day parade, which was expected to be one of the nation’s largest this holiday weekend, with participants from every state.
- NYC power outages: Thousands of customers in the New York metro area were without power Friday, according to local utility Con Edison. Some of the outages were shutdowns to prevent extended outages. Voltage reductions were also happening earlier in the day in parts of Staten Island, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Westchester, Con Edison spokesperson Jamie McShane told CNN.
- Pollution-fueled heat wave: The intensity of the heat and humidity combined this week would have been “virtually impossible” without the effects of fossil fuel pollution, according to an analysis from World Weather Attribution.
More than 20 cities broke records on Thursday, and several were hotter than Phoenix, the southwestern desert city known for breathtaking heat. DC, Philadelphia, Boston and parts of New York City all hit triple digit temperatures again on Friday afternoon.
The combination of heat and humidity is making conditions feel even hotter, with heat index values — what the air actually “feels like” to the body — forecast to climb even higher than the actual air temperature.
