Northeast Braces for First Severe Heat of the Year

Follow our updates for the latest on the heat wave across the U.S.

A record-breaking heat wave with a combination of humidity and temperatures well into the 90s was descending on cities in the Midwest and heading to the Northeast this week in what is expected to be a dangerous weather system days before summer officially begins, forecasters said.

“The duration of this heat wave is notable and potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations,” the National Weather Service said on social media on Sunday.

The severe heat was rapidly developing ahead of a low pressure system and spreading to the central Plains, Great Lakes region and Ohio Valley on Monday, the Weather Service said.

By midday Monday the heat index — a measure of how the temperature feels with the humidity — had already hit 102 degrees in Cincinnati, 101 in Toledo, Ohio, and 95 in Chicago.

The Weather Service offices in Cleveland and Pittsburgh said on social media on Monday that a heat advisory was in effect. A heat advisory replaces a watch when it is within 12 hours of the heat occurring.

The Weather Service also said an excessive heat warning was in effect from Monday through Friday for portions of northern Indiana and northwest Ohio, where temperatures could feel like 95 to 105 degrees during the day.