A very strong heat wave was heading to the eastern United States on Monday, June 20, according to the weather service, raising fears of potentially dangerous temperatures for the most vulnerable and devastating weather, after having plagued the center of the country.
The heat wave brought record-breaking early heat to several western and central cities last week. In northwestern regions, the heat collided with cool air masses, causing severe thunderstorms and flooding.
“Dangerous heat will continue to make headlines from the central United States to the Southeast,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
“The center of the heat wave will move eastward Tuesday (June 21, ed.) toward the Great Lakes region,” the NWS said, with temperatures sometimes exceeding 35 degrees Celsius, “or 5 to 12 degrees above seasonal norms.”
Chicago, the country’s third-largest metropolis, is expected to see 37°C on Tuesday 21 June. Nights will bring no comfort with the mercury in the high 20s, forecasters said.
The heat will descend to the Southeast on Wednesday, June 22, with highs of up to 43°C on the Gulf Coast, coupled with high humidity.
The Northeast is expected to remain unaffected by these weather conditions, which have brought torrential rains to the Northwest and Central parts of the country.
Yellowstone National Park, which closed last week due to extreme flooding, announced that it would reopen some of its entrances Tuesday, June 21, but to a limited audience.
The vast park of almost 9,000 km², which straddles the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho (Northwest), will filter entrances by organizing an odd-even system according to the license plates of vehicles and the day of the week.
This temporary system “will ensure that visitors can enter the park during this period of high demand,” Yellowstone officials explained on Facebook, saying it would be reviewed “in three or four weeks.”
The park had been evacuated due to flooding caused by a swollen river and torrential rains, which resulted in sinkholes and mudslides, cutting off multiple stretches of road.
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