Record Heat Wave to Continue This Week

By CnAgri2012-07-03 20:05:35 Print

Weather forecasters say a record heat wave baking the eastern United States will continue at least through this week. The heat is especially hard on more than 2 million people who remain without power in the region, following severe storms late Friday that toppled trees and cut off energy supplies.

At least 20 deaths have been blamed so far on those storms and the extreme heat that has followed, and there are concerns that others, especially the sick and elderly, may be at risk. Power outages have persisted from the East Coast as far west as the state of Illinois.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 temperature records have been matched or broken in the past week as a brutal heat wave baked much of the United States, and June saw more than 3,200 records topped, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA.L said Monday.

Officials are urging residents to check up on elderly or sick neighbors and to seek cool shelters if their homes have no power.

Extremely hot temperatures in the U.S. Midwest have stressed crops in their critical stage of development, raising concerns about crop failures.