Dangerous heat grips wide stretch of the South, Midwest

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. >> Forecasters are warning about days of scorching, dangerous heat across a wide stretch of the U.S. South and Midwest, where the heat index will feel as high as 117 degrees in some spots.

With temperatures around 100 degrees at midday Monday and “feels like” temperatures soaring higher, parts of 13 states were under heat advisories, from Texas, Louisiana and Florida in the South to Missouri and Illinois in the Midwest, the National Weather Service reported.

“It feels like hell is what it feels like,” said Junae Brooks, who runs Junae’s Grocery in Holly Bluff, Miss.

Many of her customers were wearing straw hats or keeping cool with wet rags around their necks, she said.

Some of the most oppressive conditions were being felt in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma. today will be about the same, forecasters said, and Wednesday will be only a little cooler.