A heatwave that has killed more than 190 people nationwide as it crossed the country from California to the United States east coast appears to be coming to an end.
A cold front passed over the New York area on Thursday and was heading south, National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Maloit said early on Friday. Temperatures were gradually subsiding in some areas, but cities such as Philadelphia and Washington were not yet in the clear, he said.
”On Saturday, they’ll have their break from the heat, too,” Maloit said.
Some relief rolled in after nightfall as thunderstorms were reported in parts of the East.
Temperatures in Chicago and Detroit dropped on Thursday, but they climbed to record levels in several cities, including 36 degrees Celsius in Bridgeport, Connecticut; 36,6 degrees in Islip, New York; and 38 degrees in Newark, New Jersey, and Baltimore, according to the National Weather Service.
Virginia Beach reached a high of 37 degrees Celsius, but the humidity made it feel like 44 degrees.
Authorities have confirmed that heat played a role in at least 29 deaths in 11 states and Washington, DC, since the scorching temperatures set in Sunday. Heat is suspected in at least eight other deaths.
More than 160 people died in the heatwave in California in the last two weeks of July.
New York City reported its first heat-related death of the year, an unidentified man whose body was found in Brooklyn. And in Hempstead, New York, an 83-year-old woman was pronounced dead of heat exhaustion.
In northern Indiana, heat killed an inmate at the mostly un-air-conditioned Indiana State prison and contributed to the death of another, officials said on Thursday.
In Michigan, the brutal temperatures may have caused the death of a 50-year-old man who was pouring concrete at a construction site, authorities said.
Consolidated Edison, the utility that serves much of the New York metropolitan area, said about 3 200 customers — roughly 13 000 people — were without power early on Friday. On Long Island, about 7 700 people were in the dark.
The heatwave is part of the same weather system that started temperatures soaring on the West Coast about two weeks ago, said Weather Underground meteorologist Shaun Tanner.
The continental crossing is not unusual. ”It just happened that this one is so strong that everybody takes notice,” he said. — Sapa-AP