Heat wave scorches U.S. coast to coast

DETROIT — The heat wave that has been roasting much of the U.S. is just getting warmed up, with temperatures expected to soar to dangerous levels through the weekend.

Communities are preparing by offering buildings as cooling centers and asking residents to check on relatives and neighbors. Officials also are concerned about smog, which is exacerbated by the heat and makes it more difficult for people to breathe, including the young, elderly and people with asthma or lung diseases.

More than 100 local heat records are expected to fall Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Most won’t be record daily highs but recordhigh nighttime lows, and that lack of cooling can be dangerous, meteorologists said. Temperatures in parts of the East won’t drop below the mid- to upper-70s or even 80s at night, he said.

The heat wave will likely be “short and searing,” said Greg Carbin, forecast branch chief for the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center.

A high-pressure system stretching from coast to coast is keeping the heat turned on. The heat and humidity are made to feel worse by the large amount of moisture in the air coming from the Gulf of Mexico, much of it left over from Hurricane Barry.

The heat index, which is what the temperature feels like, should hit 110 in Washington, D.C., on Saturday and 109 in Chicago and Detroit on Friday, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of Weather Underground.