Heat-wave setting records throughout U.S. Midwest- 39 dead

July 19, 2011 – HORIZON CITY, Texas (AP) — The high temperatures gripping much of the Midwest are nearly certain to persist through the week, and forecasters say the extreme discomfort will soon spread to the East Coast. The misery was widespread Monday, with the worst conditions blanketing a broad band from Texas to Minnesota and Dakotas. Seventeen states issued heat watches, warnings or advisories. The heat index easily surpassed 100 degrees in many places, including 126 in Newton, Iowa, and 119 in Madison, Minn. But few people are hit as hard as the poor. In Oklahoma, for example, applications from elderly and low-income residents are pouring in for help to pay utility bills. And Chicago officials have opened six cooling centers, many of them in lower-income neighborhoods, along with hundreds of air-conditioned public buildings. –AP

Epic: The National Weather Service put 18 states stretching from North Dakota to Texas and East to Ohio under a heat warning, watch or advisory. It said as many 13 deaths in the past week in the Midwest could be blamed on the effects of the heat. When humidity was factored in, the heat index made it feel as hot as 110 degrees in a broad swath of the nation. “This is unusual,” said Pat Slattery, spokesman for the Weather Service. “There’s no sugar-coating anything here.” –MSNBC

Unusual heatwave: There is no relief in sight in Omaha until at least Sunday, said Mike Pigott, meteorologist with Accuweather, The World-Herald’s weather consultant. A “cold” front moving in slowly might bring the temperatures down to 90 degrees. Pigott said the only states that didn’t see 90 degrees Monday were Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The heat wave extends from Salt Lake City to New York City, he said, and it’s the largest he has ever seen. “The heat isn’t what’s unusual,” Pigott said. “It’s how large an area this heat covers.” –Omaha.com