No relief as heat wave moves eastward
WASHINGTON: A heat wave that baked much of the central United States last week will start to move eastward with dangerously high temperatures, forecasters said on Monday.
The National Weather Service told Americans to gird for another day of well above normal, near-record or even record-breaking heat from the central Plains to the Upper Midwest.
“Dangerous heat will continue to make headlines,” the service said in an advisory.
The scorching blast will start to drift eastward into the Great Lakes region today with highs in the upper mid 30s Celsius.
Around 120 million people were under some sort of advisory last week as a heat wave burned the Upper Midwest and the Southeast.
This stemmed from what forecasters called a dome of high pressure, with wild weather such as thunderstorms, flash flooding and extreme rainfall erupting around its edges.
Yellowstone National Park, the oldest in the United States, closed down last week because of extensive flood damage as roads were washed away.
Torrential rainfall and snowmelt sent months’ worth of run-off into rivers in just a couple of days. The sprawling park sits mainly in Wyoming and is home to the Old Faithful geyser.
Helicopters were used to rescue nearly 90 people.
The park said its southern section will reopen to visitors today. Park officials say other parts will remain closed for the rest of the season.
As heat scorched the southwest, in Arizona a wildfire burning its way up a mountainside consumed four buildings at the Kitt Peak National Observatory but they apparently did not contain telescopes or other scientific equipment, officials said.