Nearly 100 Million Under Temperature Advisories as Heat Wave Lingers

Almost 100 million people across the United States spent the first day of summer Thursday sweltering in temperatures that topped 90 degrees, as meteorologists warned that the high-pressure system that scorched the country for the past four days would linger through the weekend in many places.

The heat shattered temperature records and altered daily routines from the Midwest river valleys to the pine forests of New England, and left roughly one-third of Americans under extreme heat advisories, warnings or watches Thursday, according to the National Integrated Heat Health Information System.

In rural Indiana, sheriff’s deputies conducted wellness checks on older residents. In Maine, officials urged homeless people to make use of cooling centers. And in the New York region, students left school early — some because their schools closed at midday, and others because worried parents took matters into their own hands.

Simone Machado pulled her son Bryan, 10, out of school at Ann Street Elementary School in Newark, the largest city in New Jersey, early Thursday because of the heat. By the time she got there, a bright-red heat rash had already bloomed across his neck.

His fourth-grade classroom was “very, very hot,” Bryan said. He was afraid to go back to school Friday, when temperatures in Newark are forecast to reach almost 100 degrees, but at least it will be the last day of school before summer vacation.

“I don’t want to go. The rashes are going to get worse and worse,” he said. “School’s over tomorrow, thankfully.”

The National Weather Service on Thursday said that the heat wave “will continue over the next several days” and that temperatures could rise even higher, skirting 100 degrees in some places, especially urban areas in the Northeast.

The heat wave is expected to peak over the weekend in the Northeast, but not until early next week in the South and the Great Plains, the weather service said.

Indeed, the worst may be yet to come in some places, including Wichita, Kansas, and Lincoln, Nebraska, where by early next week heat indexes are forecast to reach 100 degrees.

The heat is expected to peak Friday and Saturday in the Ohio Valley and the Midwest, the weather service said. That was promising news in rural Union County, Indiana, which borders Ohio and has about 7,000 residents.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .