The Southern Plains have been sweltering in a persistent heat wave for weeks — Abilene, Texas, has felt 100-degree heat for 50 days this year — and now it’s the East Coast’s turn. Jeff Cornish, AccuWeather meteorologist and senior TV broadcaster, joined Cheddar News to talk about what the I-95 corridor can expect. "We’re going to string together several days in a row of 90-degree-plus heat, and in places like Philadelphia and New York City this may become the hottest that we’ve seen in five to 10 years,” he said. Cornish offered tips to beat the heat including limiting exercise and other physical exertion to early morning or late evening hours, closing windows during the day and opening them at night; and strategically placing fans to direct air. 

Cheddar's News Wrap

 Heat Wave Moves From Southern Plains Into Northeast  

And millions of Americans are feeling the heat this week with a dangerous heat wave spreading across the south and central us. Nearly 110 million people are under heat alerts in 28 states, from California to New England. While 60 million people will likely see temperatures soar past 100° joining me now to help us sweat out this hot weather is Jeff cornish, accuweather, meteorologist and Jeff it's summer. So some heat is expected. Let's be real. But how extreme is this current weather event? And what is causing all this? Well then we're dealing with a persistent heatwave in parts of the southern plains where some in places like abilene Texas has had more than 50 days with 100 degree heat so far this year and that's well above average. Now, when we take a look at the expansion of the heat into the Northeast, there are areas where we've had a pretty average summer so far. In the Northeast where in Washington, D. C. For example, we are into our first heat wave of the year, specifically at Reagan National Airport. Sometimes in the Northeast, we look at saying 90 degrees as the benchmark three days in a row where more is the definition of a heat wave. In the Northeast. Well, we're going to string together several days in a row of 90 degree plus heat. And in places like new york city and philadelphia, this may become the hottest that we've seen in 5 to 10 years, philadelphia has not seen 100 degrees since just exactly about 10 years ago. In july of 2012 and we have a shot at hitting 100 in philadelphia on sunday and in new york city we're gonna string together about 5 to 7 days of 90 degree plus heat here. And we haven't seen that in about 9 to 10 years. So this is gonna be uh something we haven't seen for a bit in the Northeast when it comes to the prolonged nature of the heat for I 95. So you mentioned Abilene, but what part of the U. S. Is seeing the most dangerous heat conditions? Well, I guess you could answer that in a few different ways. The persistent heat has been in the southern Plains. They've seen the most extreme and persistent heat for the past month and a half or so. But texas is pretty well prepared for heat. And that's something that's not too uncommon in some of these areas that do see on average maybe 10, 15, 20 days of 100 degree heat uh in a typical year. So it'll become a bit of a stress for some in the Northeast who haven't experienced mid to upper nineties yet with actually the real feel temperatures of 105 plus for some spots. So that's where we can get into trouble if we're not prepared for. Sometimes our bodies in in the southern plains may acclimate to this over the course of the summer, a bit more than some in the Northeast. So things like heat, stress, heat exhaustion and heat stroke can become big concerns. Yeah, I mean people are getting hospitalized, some people are losing their lives. So I need to ask, what are some things that people should not be doing in this extreme heat? Well, it's good to avoid strenuous activity outside during the hottest part of the day. Late morning, through mid afternoon. Take it easy If you can put off the yard work until maybe later in the evening or earlier in the morning, that's a good option. If you're responsible for the well being of maybe younger people, maybe you're a football coach getting ready for the upcoming season. People are a lot more sensitive to this kind of thing when their decision making comes into factor now compared to years ago, because we do see people get into trouble. Sometimes healthy people can succumb to the heat in unexpected ways when you're doing too much during the hottest part of the day if you don't have air conditioning. And this is something that the folks in the United Kingdom had to deal with on monday and Tuesday when they broke their national record. If you don't have a C and you have to contend with some big time heat. Maybe some parts of the interior Northeast. Uh, well, you're gonna probably want to keep the windows shut and even draw the blinds during the day and open up the windows at night to allow some of that heat to escape and cooler air to come in. And if you have a house fan, you can turn that on and suck some of that heat out of the house and try to use fans in an intentional way to work with one another to try to actually kind of produce some streamlines of cooler air into the house at night. So what are some signs that perhaps your body is having a negative reaction to all this heat? Like what are some signs of heat stroke and all that stuff? Yeah, well heat stroke is a serious problem. If you suspect someone around you has heatstroke, that's the time to call 911. Loss of consciousness is an obvious sign that somebody's life could be in danger. But nausea and vomiting and altered mental status, if somebody begins to act or behave very differently. Maybe if you notice yourself feeling very different than you ever have before, flushed skin, rapid breathing. If your heart rate increases, that's a sign of heatstroke. And another thing is some of us probably never experienced because hopefully you'll never get heat stroke. If you have hot dry skin and you're not sweating, that could be a big big warning sign. And those are things to keep in mind. And again, call 911, you don't want to mess around with heat stroke because if your internal temperature reaches around 104°, a lot of the medical experts say that's when you're the system that regulates your internal temperature, can't keep up with things. And if if your internal temperature rises to around 107, that's when cell damage can occur and death can be imminent. So Jeff, I have to ask how long do you think this heat wave will last in the next week? It'll be with us right through the weekend. On friday though. Are we talking monday into next week? Early to mid week will begin to see some improvements. So by midweek we'll begin to see some improvements in the northeast. But until then these weekend fronts that are sparking some strong storms, we've seen severe weather in northern Ohio and eastern Michigan today. These fronts are not bringing the change to the I-95. They are bringing some temporary cool downs to the interior though. Alright, yeah, it is a scorcher out there. I rode my bike to the train station today, biggest mistake of my life, Jeff cornish, accuweather meteorologist, Jeff, thank you so much for bringing that down for us.