Heat wave makes its miserable way east
CINCINNATI — The hot air mass that has plagued the Plains for days began spreading eastward Thursday, roasting residents of the Ohio Valley and the East Coast under a sizzling sun that made people sick, closed schools and prompted cities to offer cooling centers and free swimming.
Forecasters issued excessive heat warnings for a huge section of the country, from Kansas to Massachusetts.
The temperature surpassed 100 degrees in Toledo, Ohio — just a few degrees shy of a record set in 1930. Combined with 69 percent humidity, it felt as hot as 107.
"It feels very sultry, very uncomfortable, and it's just very dangerous," said Jim Lott, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, Ohio.
The weather is suspected of contributing to a number of deaths across the nation. At least six more fatalities were reported Thursday, including a Michigan restaurant cook who suffered a heart attack after being sent home from his job and a teenage boy who drowned while swimming at summer camp in the same state.
Missouri officials confirmed five heat-related deaths since June. Kansas City authorities were investigating at least 13 others in which heat was suspected.
Emergency room visits were way up, according to public health officials, mainly because of people suffering from heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Government forecasters issued excessive heat warnings for a huge section of the country, from Kansas to Massachusetts, while some southern states were under heat advisories.
Thursday shaped up as the hottest day of a steamy week in Ohio, with temperatures climbing to 97 in the southwestern part of the state. Farther east, the worst of the heat waited for today and the weekend.
Thousands of homes and businesses in southern Michigan lost power Thursday morning as people cranked up air conditioner use. Ferndale Recreation Director Julie Hall said a cooling center in suburban Detroit took in numerous senior citizens after their nearby apartment complex lost electricity.
Jackson, Mich.-based Consumers Energy asked its 1.8 million customers to try to reduce their electricity use by raising thermostats a few degrees, limiting opening of refrigerator doors and turning off unnecessary lights and appliances.
Baltimore, Annapolis and several other Maryland cities opened public cooling centers for folks to find relief. Allentown, Pa., waived fees at all public pools.
A threatened cutback for utilities north of Indianapolis came as temperatures reached the upper 90s in much of the state. The temperature reached 100 degrees in Indianapolis on Thursday for the first time since August 1988, the National Weather Service said. Heat indexes as high as 112 degrees were reported.
In Franklin, about 20 miles south of Indianapolis, officials dumped ice into a public swimming pool to cool it down Thursday after the water temperature hit 88 degrees.
School canceled
The temperature approached triple digits in Philadelphia and much of central and western New York. Philadelphia school officials sent students home early Thursday and canceled summer school for today.
In South Carolina, a heat index expected to spike today at 115 sent people to the beach and water parks.
Some outdoor events also were canceled, but the annual Dayton Air Show said it would go on this weekend.
At the Warren County Fair in Lebanon, Ohio, rides were closed early Thursday afternoon. Fair officials pushed their opening time back to 4 p.m. because of the heat. Attendance is off this year, too, fair officials said.
At the Ottawa County Fair near Toledo, 14-year-old Austin Schimming hosed down his beef cattle and put on his jeans and button-down shirt for the calf judging.
"It's worth it when the check comes," the youth said of the hot clothing.
This story was originally published July 22, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Heat wave makes its miserable way east."