Record-breaking heat
This week much of eastern US and other parts of the world have been experiencing hot weather. The mercury climbed into the 90s across half the country Wednesday in a record-breaking blast of August-like heat, forcing schools with no air conditioning to let kids go home early and cities to open cooling centers. And scientists say we had better get used to it.
Section:Picture story
Pakistani children take the plunge in a canal to beat the heat in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on Monday, June 6, 2011. Some areas of southwest Pakistan like Jacobabad and other adjacent cities are experiencing high temperatures of around 48 Fahrenheit (118C).
Pervez Masih Associated Press
Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department deputies and an official from the Michigan Department of Transportation block traffic Wednesday, June 8, 2011, afternoon where a section of southbound I-69 buckled shoulder to shoulder just north of I-94. Authorities say the hot weather caused the pavement to buckle, forcing a portion of southbound I-69 near Marshall to close for a few hours.
The Enquirer, Justin A. Hinckley Associated Press
A man rides his wheelchair during hot weather at Montrose beach in Chicago, Wednesday, June 8, 2011. Temperatures peaked Wednesday within a few degrees of the 97-degree 1933 record.
Nam Y. Huh Associated Press
A Pakistani cools off in a stream on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, where temperature reached 39 degree Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) Wednesday, June 8, 2011. Pakistanis are facing heat wave conditions with temperatures reaching 51 degree Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) in some cities.
Anjum Naveed Associated Press
A new study from Stanford University predicts that global climate change will lead permanently to unusually hot summers by the middle of the century.
Associated Press
Lightning and a forming rainbow are seen over the state agency buildings at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
Mike Groll Associated Press
A man dives into the Mediterranean Sea to escape the scorching heat of the Libyan summer in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
Rodrigo Abd Associated Press
An Oklahoma City firefighter cools off after battling a house fire on west Rossmore Place in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
The Oklahoman, Steve Gooch Associated Press
Riders get splashed as a boat hits the water at Shipwreck Falls amusement ride on a hot sunny day at Darien Lake Theme Park Resort in Darien Center, N.Y., Wednesday, June 8, 2011. The National Weather Service says temperatures will reach the low and mid-90s Wednesday, with uncomfortable humidity, in much of upstate as some East Coast metropolitan areas are expected to see temperatures approaching 100 degrees.
David Duprey Associated Press
At Stanford, Noah S. Diffenbaugh and Martin Scherer analyzed global climate computer models and concluded that by midcentury, large areas of the world could face unprecedented heat. They said the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest ones of the 1900s.
Associated Press
A sunbathers basks in the hot sun at the downtown in Vilnius, Lithuania, Thursday, June 09, 2011. Hot weather has set in with temperatures rising up to 29 Celsius (84 Fahrenheit ) in Vilnius.
Mindaugas Kulbis Associated Press
A dog lands in the cooling waters of the James River after being gently tossed in by her owner, left, just east of the Boulevard Bridge in Richmond, Va., Thursday, June 9, 2011.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, P. Kevin Morley Associated Press
Global warming in recent years has been blamed on increasing concentrations of gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The permanent shift to extreme heat would occur first in the tropics and reach North America, South America and Eurasia by 2060, the scientist report in a paper that will be published in the journal Climatic Change Letters.
Associated Press
John McPherson, owner of AAA Ice, pulls a block of ice from a freezer room Thursday, June 9, 2011 in Baltimore. It could take days for areas broiling under temperatures in the 90s to get relief, forecasters said, as a record-breaking heat wave affects half the country.
Steve Ruark Associated Press
Lucas Dietrich, 26, a physician’s assistant at the Duke School of Medicine, cools himself off in front of a misting fan while taking part in a Hazmat drill on the campus of the City of Medical Academy in Durham, N.C., Thursday, June 9, 2011.
News & Observer, Chuck Liddy Associated Press
Residents from Elba and Zion Chapel, Alabama beat the scorching heat by taking an afternoon swim at a popular swimming hole below the Thames bridge near Elba, Alabama on Thursday, June 9, 2011. (AP Photo/The Dothan Eagle, Jay Hare)
The Dothan Eagle, Jay Hare Associated Press
Master of Hounds gets a cool breeze from a pair of fans as he rests in his stall, Thursday, June 9, 2011 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Master of Hounds, trained in Ireland, is entered in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
Mark Lennihan Associated Press