The deadly, multiday heat wave tightened its grip on the eastern United States on Friday, breaking records, sending people to the emergency room and raising the risk for millions of people starting to celebrate the Fourth of July outdoors.
More than a dozen locations in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast broke or tied their high temperature records for Friday, including Washington, DC. The capital hit 102 degrees, surpassing the 101-degree record set in 1872.
The most extreme heat shifts a bit south on Saturday, staying high for DC with a forecast high of 102 degrees, which would make it the hottest July Fourth in the city’s history. Philadelphia and New York City are expected to be near 100 degrees with heat indices near 105.
• Heat-related illness and death: A 68-year old man died after trimming bushes on July 2 in Bethel Township, Pennsylvania, where high temperatures passed 100 degrees, the Berks County Coroner’s Office told CNN. The cause of death was a heart attack from strain “due to heat exhaustion,” the office said. Meanwhile, the CDC reported “extremely high rates of heat-related illness” in regions across the Northeast on Thursday.
• Events canceled or delayed: The July Fourth parade set for Saturday morning in Washington, DC, was canceled due to extreme heat in the nation’s capital. President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair is opening two hours late at 12 p.m. Philadelphia canceled its Friday Independence Day parade, which was expected to be one of the nation’s largest this holiday weekend, with participants from every state.
