Half of U.S. bakes in relentless heat wave
Allie Marsinko, 5, of Connellsville Pa., cools off from the simmering heat running through a water sprinkler at the National Mall in Washington, June 8, 2011. / AP
WASHINGTON - It could take days for areas broiling under temperatures in the 90s to get relief, forecasters said, as a record-breaking heat wave canceled class and even buckled highway pavement in at least one area.
Sweltering temperatures across half the country have people doing what they can to stay cool, and they'll need to keep doing it for the rest of the week in some places.
The 6-to-10-day outlook from the federal Climate Prediction Center calls for continued above-average readings centered on the mid-South, including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and extending as far as the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey.
After a long winter, many people were hitting beaches along the East Coast to keep cool in the summer temperatures. But with the mercury soaring into the high 90s, people vulnerable to the heat are being urged to stay indoors, CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports.
"I'm staying in my house. I'm going to watch TV and have a cold beer," said 84-year-old Harvey Milliman of Manchester, N.J. "You got a better idea than that, I'd love to hear it."
Public schools in Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey and Maryland cut their days short Wednesday because of the heat. Cooling centers opened in Chicago, Memphis, Tenn., and Newark, N.J., as a refuge for those without air conditioning.
Authorities say hot weather was so intense in southwestern Michigan that it buckled pavement on an interstate, forcing the roadway to close for a few hours Wednesday, according to the Battle Creek Enquirer.
If scientists are right, we better get used to sweltering temperatures. A new study from Stanford University predicts that global climate change will lead permanently to unusually hot summers by the middle of the century.
Youngsters sweltered in Hartford, Conn., where school would have ended for the summer by now if not for the heavy snows last winter that led to makeup days.
"I'm not even going to go outside this summer if it's going to be like this, unless my mom makes me," said seventh-grader Kemeshon Scott, putting the final touches on a social studies paper in a school with no air conditioning.
Temperatures in the 90s were recorded across much of the South, the East and the Midwest. Baltimore and Washington hit 99 degrees, breaking high-temperature records for the date that were set in 1999, according to the National Weather Service. The normal high for the date is about 82.
Philadelphia hit 97 degrees, breaking a 2008 record of 95, and Atlantic City, N.J., tied a record of 98 set in 1999. Chicago reached 94 by midafternoon.
Forecasters said it felt even hotter because of the high humidity, yet several southern states were also experiencing drought. The ridge of high pressure that brought the broiling weather is expected to remain parked over the region through Thursday.
In Oklahoma, where temperatures have reached 104 four times so far this month, the Salvation Army said more people are seeking help with high utility bills earlier in the season, and paramedics responded to more heat-related illnesses.
Authorities blamed the heat for deaths of five elderly people in Tennessee, Maryland and Wisconsin in recent days.
That is likely to continue in the coming month, with the hot weather extending west into New Mexico and Arizona. The three-month outlook shows excessive heat focused on Arizona and extending east along the Gulf Coast. Cooler-than-normal readings are forecast from Tennessee into the Great Lakes states.
At Stanford, Noah S. Diffenbaugh and Martin Scherer analyzed global climate computer models and concluded that by midcentury, large areas of the world could face unprecedented heat. They said the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest ones of the 1900s.
Global warming in recent years has been blamed on increasing concentrations of gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The permanent shift to extreme heat would occur first in the tropics and reach North America, South America and Eurasia by 2060, the scientist report in a paper that will be published in the journal Climatic Change Letters.
It's hard to stay cool at a ballpark but Reds and Cubs fans were trying at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, which had issued a heat emergency.
Kathryn Burke, of Pikeville, Ky., wore a straw hat, brought two bottles of frozen water, and a portable mister.
"And I brought the knowledge to leave when I've had enough of the heat," she said.
One Cubs fan wasn't so concerned.
"Sunblock, water, and shades, then enjoy the game," said Brad Daniels of his heat defenses. "Hey, it's baseball. We're here to see the boys of summer."
Officials at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, the Army's largest training installation, let recruits adjust their uniforms to get cooler and spend time in the shade.
One soldier who had minor heat ailments earlier in the week had to wear a string of beads to display how many quarts of water he was drinking each day. Said Pvt. Ryan Kline, 24, of Windsor, Colo.: "I had lots of pain, fatigue, but I'm fine today as long as I stay hydrated."
Among those sweltering in the Newark, N.J., heat was Alejandra Perez, who was barbecuing chicken, ribs and shish-kebabs over an outdoor grill at Manny's BBQ Restaurant & Deli in the city's downtown. Newark reached 99 degrees, breaking a record of 97 set in 1999.
"I'm from El Salvador, and it's hot there, but the heat is much worse here," she said in Spanish.
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If you believe that spewing crap into the atmosphere 24 hours a day 7 days a week for over 200 years hasn't had an effect on the climate then you are either stupid, naive or a republican.
***
Of course it had an effect. The question is, how much of an effect? It's like drinking one teaspoon of beer. Even that little amount has an effect, but the effect is too small to constitute "drunk."
Climate change is very real. But humans did not cause it. We are not capable of it, which incidentally means we cannot stop it either. I'm sure we've had some effect, but not enough to get Earth drunk.
The climate has been changing since the planet formed. During the Mesozoic Era, Earth warmed to a point that there was little or no ice even at the poles. Since then, Earth has experienced series of glaciation wherein sheets of ice formed and extended well beyond the polar regions.
Guess what: Earth is warming again! And I'll just bet that one day, it begins to cool again, too.
Humans can relocate to Siberia and Canada, so our species has a better chance of surviving than many species which require a particular habitat. Not that lots of people might not die, but we probably won't go extinct. However, if Earth goes the way of Venus, which is the worst-case scenario, we're all goners.
erasmus111, sounds like you really don't want anyone coming up there and ruining your pristine environment......
You're right!!
It is still fairly cool here. Earlier this week, we had a couple of days where it was around 74 F. I'm good until it reaches 80. Maybe a little higher, as long as there isn't a high humidity. That's when I turn on the air conditioner. : )
100 degrees is waaaaaaaay to high for me!
So, you somehow know better than the 97% of experts who say climate change is real? Continue to stick your head in the sand, and your backside is going to get burnt.
We are taking huge amounts of carbon out of the ground and putting it into the air. We have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the air from 275 parts per million to 392 ppm. That causes global warming. That's no gnat.
get your calculator out and figure out what percentage of the earth's atmosphere 392ppm is.