Searing Heat to Linger in US Northeast Till Thurs
Date: 03-Aug-06
Country: US
The searing temperatures killed more than a hundred people last week in California before moving east and triggered excessive heat warnings from the US government Wednesday for the Southern Plains and along the East Coast.
"This heat wave has been gripping the region for the past three days, with at least one more day to wait for Mother Nature to provide some cooling," private forecaster AccuWeather said in a report.
Earlier this week, meteorologists had predicted the heat wave would cross into the Atlantic by Wednesday night. But on Wednesday they forecast the heat wave would persist in the Northeast until Thursday night.
The heat has spiked electricity demand to records as businesses and homes crank up their air conditioners, but so far the grid has held up to the strain, with only minor power outages in cities like Chicago and New York.
But for many in the Northeast, the hottest day of the year was still to come, with temperatures expected in the triple digits in Washington, Philadelphia and New York through Thursday. The mercury in New York would reach 104 (Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, according to Meteorlogix.
Moreover, high humidity across the eastern third of the country was making the weather feel much hotter than the readings on thermometers -- up to 120 degrees in some places -- AccuWeather said.
Prices for US natural gas, used widely for electricity production, shot 10 percent higher Wednesday on the surging demand. Crude oil and gasoline prices were also higher.
Meanwhile, Florida and other states along the Gulf of Mexico, the nation's key oil and natural gas producing and refining region, kept an eye on Tropical Storm Chris as the National Hurricane Center forecast it would strengthen into the first hurricane of the year by the end of the week.
On its current track, Chris will pass between Florida and Cuba and break into the Gulf of Mexico within a week, the NHC said as it issued a hurricane watch for the Bahamas.
