Heat Dome Kills At Least 19 In New Jersey As Heat Alerts Cover 160 Million Americans

A heat dome over the Fourth of July weekend killed at least 19 people in New Jersey, according to authorities, with the New Jersey Department of Public Health reporting “around 160 million” Americans under heat alerts for intense or extreme conditions.

DW quoted New Jersey Health Commissioner Raynard Washington saying, "Ahora hemos llegado a 19 muertes presuntamente relacionadas con el calor en todo el estado", as he described victims found in homes without air conditioning, outside residences, on the street, and even in parked cars.

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USA Today reported that the deadly early July heat wave was shrinking in size, but dangerous heat persisted across portions of the South and West, with AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bill Dugar saying the “record-smashing heat dome” would “finally relent and shift west through mid-July.”

USA Today also tied the heat’s spread to forecasts for Phoenix, where the National Weather Service warned of "dangerously hot conditions," with "afternoon temperatures of 111 to 116 degrees" expected.

FOX Weather said the historic heat dome blamed for at least 28 deaths gripped more than 260 million people as temperatures topped 90 degrees between last Tuesday and Sunday.

As the heat moved, USA Today said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center expected the oppressive heat’s footprint to keep contracting through early this week, while a slow-moving frontal boundary and low pressure would support multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms with an increasing threat of heavy rainfall and flash flooding.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that severe storms knocked out power to close to 1 million homes and businesses, citing PowerOutage.com for about 900,000 utility customers without electricity early Sunday afternoon.

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USA Today said Atlantic City, New Jersey reached 106 degrees on July 4, breaking the city’s all-time record high temperature, and it also reported Washington, DC soared to 102 degrees on July 4, making it the hottest Independence Day on record there.

FOX Weather described how the intense heat closed the Great American State Fair on the National Mall for about 4 hours Friday, and it said the National Special Security Event Joint Information Center reported medical teams responded to more than 700 heat-related calls from the National Mall over the weekend with 40 people taken to the hospital.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette quoted New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill calling the current weather "the hottest stretch we've seen in over 14 years" as state officials said heat-related deaths began as early as Thursday.

Euronews reported that the World Health Organization teamed up with FIFA to protect players, staff, and fans from the extreme heat expected in the United States, with matches set to take place in East Coast cities in the coming days.

“Al menos 19 personas han muerto en el estado de Nueva Jersey aparentemente a causa de la ola de calor que azota el este y centro de Estados Unidos, según informaron este domingo (05”

DW

Euronews said the National Weather Service warned there would be very little, if any, nighttime relief from the heat, with temperatures only expected to drop to the low 20s at night, and it described prolonged heat waves as among the deadliest weather phenomena in the United States because their effects accumulate over time.

DW said authorities urged residents to remain in interiors, drink more water than usual, and seek places with air conditioning if they do not have access at home, as the heat episode was described as the period of heat most intense in more than 14 years.

Democracy Now! reported that more than 185 million people—over half of U.S. residents—were under heat alerts over the weekend, and it said severe weather forced the cancellation of Independence Day events in states from Alabama to Connecticut.

Democracy Now! also quoted climate scientist Theodore Keeping saying, "We found that in the last 50 years, since a previous heat wave affected Europe, in 1976, that the chance of a heat wave like this has gone from almost impossible to something that we’d expect to see every couple of decades."