Canadian Air Snaps 21-Day Capital Heat Wave

Cool, Canadian air snapped a 21-day heat wave in the nation’s capital Friday, but temperatures again soared into the 90s and over 100 across the Tennessee Valley and much of the South.

A cold front reached down from Canada into the Great Lakes states, the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic states, dropping temperatures into the comfortable 70-degree range.

Marquette, Mich., reported a record low of 39 degrees Friday morning, and forecasters at South Bend, Ind., said August rainfall was above normal for the first time since the Midwestern drought took hold last December.

But officials in Tennessee said scorching heat had caused at least two deaths since Wednesday, and forecasters in Tennessee and the Carolinas warned residents against strenuous physical activity or too much exposure to sunlight that could bring on heat stroke.

Raleigh, N.C., reached a record 103 degrees Friday, breaking the mark of 96 set five years ago. Temperatures in the 90s were reported in Florida, Alabama and Georgia.

Thunderstorms produced heavy rain over the middle Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic states. Forecasters reported “blinding rain” at Prairie City, Ind.

In South Bend, forecasters said Friday that an overnight rainfall raised the monthly precipitation total to 4.5 inches for the month of August--already above normal levels for the entire month.

But, the forecasters cautioned, that does not mean that the drought is over. They were quick to note that in the drought years of 1934 and 1936--the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression--there was excessive rain in August.

In Washington, where the temperature had topped off at 103 degrees earlier this week, the afternoon reading Friday was 73.

A six-to-10-day forecast issued by the National Weather Service Friday predicted near-normal or below-normal temperatures for most of the nation through Aug. 29. Above-normal heat was expected only along the West Coast, the Rockies and the northern plains.