One more sizzling hot day for the eastern US before temperatures plunge
30 degrees
[June 26, 2025]
By SETH BORENSTEIN
NEW YORK (AP) — A record-smashing heat wave broiled the U.S. East for
another day Wednesday, even as thermometers were forecast to soon plunge
by as many as 30 degrees in the same areas.
The day's heat wasn't expected to be as intense as Tuesday, when at
least 50 heat records were matched or broken and 21 places hit
triple-digit temperatures. About 127 million Americans remained under
National Weather Service heat advisories, down from the previous day.
Sizzling temperatures sent utilities scrambling to keep the air
conditioning and lights on amid massive demand for power.
“It’s still going to be, I think, pretty bad across the East,''
meteorologist Bob Oravec of the Weather Prediction Center said Wednesday
morning. ”I think today is probably the last day of widespread record
potential. It might not be quite as hot as yesterday by a few degrees.
But still, high temperatures are expected in the upper 90s across a good
section of the East."
The weather service warned of “extreme heat" for a stretch of the
country from North Carolina to New York and west to West Virginia. Highs
could approach triple digits from New York to Richmond, Oravec said.
Temperatures again broke 100 on Wednesday at New York's John F. Kennedy
Airport and in Newark and Baltimore.
Temperatures Wednesday morning were “a little bit warmer than expected”
because of northwesterly winds bringing “warm leftovers from yesterday,”
said former NOAA chief scientist Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist.
Nantucket, Massachusetts, was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius)
when its forecast high was 82.
Weather whiplash
The high pressure heat dome that has baked the East was forecast to
break. A cold front began moving south from New England, bringing with
it clouds and cooler temperatures — not only cooler than 100 degrees
Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), but cooler than normal.
That air mass drawing on cool ocean waters will send temperatures
plummeting by the end of the week in Philadelphia, which hit a record
high of 101 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, said Ray Martin,
meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New
Jersey. Air temperatures will be in the low 70s Fahrenheit (20s
Celsius).
“It’s going to feel like a shock to the system, but it’s not anything
particularly unusual,” said Martin.
Boston's forecast high for Friday is 34 degrees lower than what it hit
Tuesday.
“It's going to feel like a different season," Oravec said.
However, it won't last. After one or two days, slightly hotter than
normal temperatures are forecast, but not anywhere near the highs from
earlier this week, Oravec said.
Weather whiplash from one extreme to another occurs more often as the
world warms overall from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and
natural gas, scientists said.
Records smashed
Tuesday was likely the peak of the heat, with Baltimore the king of
swelter. The city's high of 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) smashed
a previous record by four degrees. At night, when the human body needs
cooling, temperatures only dropped to 87 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius).
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A U.S. Capitol Police officer pours water on his head Wednesday,
June 25, 2025, outside the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia
Demaree Nikhinson)
Baltimore was hardly alone. A dozen weather stations were 101
degrees or higher, including two New York airports. Boston hit 102,
breaking its old record by seven degrees. Augusta, Maine's
100-degrees also broke its old record by seven degrees.
Every coastal state from Maine to South Carolina hit 100 degrees
somewhere, with Georgia and Florida clocking in at 99 on Tuesday.
As temperatures rise “things become less reliable and more
unstable,” said Climate Central Chief Meteorologist Bernadette Woods
Placky.
The heat meant more demand for power. The nation's largest power
grid operator, PJM Interconnection, on Monday recorded its highest
demand since 2011, with only a slight drop off Tuesday and
Wednesday, spokesman Dan Lockwood said.
“We have an aging grid infrastructure already in United States, so
you can see the impacts of that heat on that infrastructure," said
Kate Guy, senior research fellow at the Columbia University Center
on Global Energy Policy. The aging system is less capable of
transmitting power at the voltages needed, she said. “At the same
time, you’re seeing a really big spike in demand. This is what they
(utilities) are increasingly experiencing because of climate
change," Guy said. "Frankly, with each year is increased, historic
temperatures and that intense heat arriving earlier than ever, just
putting an immense pressure on the electrical grid.”
Extreme heat caused the road to buckle in two locations on an
interstate highway in northern New Jersey. State transportation
officials say the impact on the concrete roadway in Morris County on
Tuesday afternoon forced some lane closures as temporary repairs
were made. Crews then began work to replace the damaged areas and
repave those sections.
Some downtown Chicago streets will close Wednesday night to repair
pavement that has buckled due to hot temperatures amid an ongoing
heat wave in the city.
“Pavement failures or blowouts occur when prolonged high
temperatures cause the road to expand and buckle up or blow out,
resulting in uneven driving surfaces,” the Illinois Department of
Transportation said in a statement.
In Chesapeake, Virginia, a heat-related malfunction prompted a
bridge to remain stuck in the open position.
___
Isabella O'Malley in Philadelphia; Alexa St. John in Detroit;
Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, New
Jersey; and Christine Fernando contributed to this report.
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