Northeast Sweats Through Its First Heat Wave of the Summer
High temperatures paired with humidity put heat indices in the 100s.
— -- The Northeast is experiencing its first heat wave of the summer.
From Baltimore to Philadelphia, today was a scorcher -- and the forecast promises the dangerously high temperatures are here to stay for a while longer.
For the second day in a row, temperatures in the Northeast were in the 90s. Increased humidity, however, particularly in the Northeast, made it feel like almost 100 degrees. The Northeast wasn't alone though.
According to the National Weather Service, 16 states, including in the Deep South, were under heat warnings and advisories today. The heat index in Washington, D.C., was 101; in New Orleans, it was 108.
In Philadelphia, where ABC News affiliate WPVI-TV was warning residents to consume cool drinks and take shady breaks, temperatures were in the mid 90s. The city was also under an excessive heat warning.
Meanwhile, severe storms today were just starting to hit parts of southern Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch until 9 p.m. for those areas.
The storms threatened to bring isolated large hail, scattered damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph as well as additional flash flooding to areas like Evansville, Bowling Green and Nashville, which were already under a flash food emergency today.
Almost 47 million Americans were in the storm zone across a huge portion of the Midwest, from Minneapolis to Chicago to Nashville.