An intense and prolonged heat wave is expected to grip parts of the central and eastern U.S. ahead of Independence Day celebrations, with 111 million people under heat alerts this week.
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Cities including Chicago; Kansas City and St. Louis in Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; Savannah, Georgia; Philadelphia; and Boston are under alerts, with daytime highs expected to climb into the 90s and the 100s. Factoring in the humidity, it will feel even hotter, with heat index values reaching 105 to 114 degrees through the week.
The heat will build through the week in the East. The heat index value could surge past 100 by midweek in Philadelphia, Washington and New York, with Philadelphia feeling as hot as 112 degrees by Thursday and New York nearing 108.
Much of the Southwest was already facing highs of around 100 degrees. Across the Atlantic, a historic heat wave sweeping Europe has turned deadly. French officials said the country recorded about 1,000 excess deaths during the recent stretch of record-breaking heat.
