Heat Eases but It’s Still in 90s in Midwest

A heat wave that has shattered nearly 60 records in three days and drew swarms of mayflies to Burlington, Iowa, eased a bit Monday, but temperatures remained in the 90s over much of the Midwest and Atlantic Coast.

The National Weather Service said high temperature records were set in at least four cities across the country Monday, and the heat was accompanied by high humidity in parts of the East.

“It feels like a ringing wet mop, exactly,” said Patrick Terrell, 25, a road worker who spent hours climbing in and out of manholes in Washington, where the high reached 94 degrees. “At lunch, all you want to do is drink water.”

Schools Close Early

Some suburban Washington schools were forced to close early because temperatures inside classrooms climbed to 100 degrees.

The mercury rose to 100 degrees in Springfield, Ill., surpassing the previous record high of 97 set in 1894. Other records were 93 at Billings, Mont., 98 at Williston, N.D., and 97 at Atlantic City, N.J.

Manhattan, Kan., hit 100 degrees by early afternoon while thermometers in the normally hot desert Southwest touched 103 at Tucson and Phoenix, Ariz., the hottest in the nation.

Along the East Coast, Baltimore hit a record 99. Pomona, N.J., near Atlantic City, hit a record high for the date of 92. It was 94 in New York City, two degrees shy of the record for the date.

Utilities in Full Use

Connecticut’s two largest electric utilities operated at full capacity, and spokesman Emmanuel Forde said Northeast Utilities might have to buy electricity from outside the state or reduce service to large industrial customers.

Ninety-degree heat may have been partly responsible for an explosion Monday that severely burned an owner of a West Des Moines, Iowa, furniture-stripping store, officials said.

Cliff McFarland, Fire Department training chief, said Steve Svaldi, 31, was using a paint stripper when the substance vaporized and exploded, severely burning his face and arms. Svaldi was listed in serious condition at a Des Moines hospital.

In Burlington, Iowa, residents sweated through another day of unseasonable warmth as they swatted swarms of pesky mayflies--smelly insects that thrive on heat and humidity and invade the Missouri River town for about three days every year.

The insects made streets slick in the eastern Iowa town Sunday and caused a “black snowstorm” that posed a traffic threat.

Heavy rains punctuated by rattling hail rolled across northern Texas on Monday, causing minor flooding and threatening another week of the same downpours that have led to 14 deaths since June 3, including at least nine drownings.

The same line of storms continued south into the Dallas-Fort Worth area, prompting high wind, hail and flood warnings from the National Weather Service.