Northwest sizzles as heat wave hits many parts of US
Source: AP
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Volunteers and county employees set up cots and stacked hundreds of bottles of water in an air-conditioned cooling center in a vacant building in Portland, Oregon, one of many such places being set up as the Northwest sees another stretch of sizzling temperatures.
Scorching weather also hit other parts of the country this week. The weather service said heat advisories and warnings would be in effect from the Midwest to the Northeast and mid-Atlantic through at least Friday.
In Portland, tempertures neared 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) on Wednesday and the mercury could soar past the century mark Thursday and Friday. Authorities trying to provide relief to vulnerable people are mindful of a record-shattering heat wave earlier this summer that killed hundreds in the Pacific Northwest.
The high temperatures in Portland, part of a usually temperate region, would break all-time records this week if the late June heat wave had not done so already. Seattle will be cooler than Portland, with temperatures in the mid-90s, but it still has a chance to break records, and many people there, like in Oregon, don’t have air conditioning.
December Snedecor, a homeless woman who lives in a tent in Portland, Ore., helps set up snacks at a cooling center established to help vulnerable residents ride out the second dangerous heat wave to grip the Pacific Northwest this summer on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021. Snedecor, 46, spent two nights at the same cooling center in June when temperatures in the city soared to 116 degrees Fahrenheit and she plans to spend the night there again this week as temperatures are forecast to hit 100 F or higher for three consecutive days. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/science-health-environment-and-nature-heat-waves-e8e6618ff89fa085ba6f9ba005ab0b2d
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