Around 130 million people began facing a heatwave on Saturday that is expected to last until next week and has already broken records of dangerously high temperatures. It is expected to affect more people from the east coast to the west coast, meteorologists said.
The stifling heat and humidity could combine to raise temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the Pacific Northwest, central Atlantic, and northeast, said Jacob Asherman, a meteorologist with the US National Weather Service.
In Oregon, you can break records in cities like Eugene, Portland, and Salem, Asherman said. Asherman said dozens more records could fall across the United States, leading millions of people to seek relief from the heat in public places with air conditioning from Bullhead City, Arizona, to Norfolk, Virginia.
«We are certainly dealing with a fairly anomalous event that seems to continue at least until midweek,» Asherman said.
Meanwhile, at the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon, music fans braved the heat by drinking cold water, seeking shelter in the shade, or cooling off under the mist from fans.
Angela Quiroz, 31, dampened her scarf and hat and applied sunscreen to protect herself from the heat at the music event.
«There is definitely a difference between shade and sun,» Quiroz said. «But when you’re in the sun, you feel like you’re cooking.»
