Worsening heat in U.S. forecast

By Friday, heat alerts blanketed the Pacific Northwest, with 11 million people under excessive heat warnings, including residents of Seattle and Portland.

But that was just the prelude to an even bigger heat wave building across the rest of the Lower 48, which is expected to bring sweltering conditions to much of the Plains, Midwest and Corn Belt as the calendar flips to August.

There were signs that temperatures well over 100 degrees could be ubiquitous across the central United States by late this week, the raw temperatures combining with steamy summertime humidity to yield heat indexes pushing

110 degrees in spots.

This week’s heat wave over the Central United States could extend into mid-August.

SENIOR AIRMAN JULIANNE SHOWALTE TNS A brief look ahead at stories that will have readers talking this week An Air Force service member tosses items into a burn pit at Balad Air Base, Iraq, in March 2008.