{"id":3051,"date":"2026-06-30T17:02:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3051"},"modified":"2026-06-30T17:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:02:58","slug":"sweltering-midwest-heat-cancels-outdoor-plans-as-cooling-centers-open-and-the-east-braces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3051","title":{"rendered":"Sweltering Midwest heat cancels outdoor plans as cooling centers open and the East braces"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>DES MOINES, Iowa<\/strong> | Summer camps and other outdoor activities were canceled Monday as tens of millions of people across the Midwest endured a heat wave that is expected to spread eastward this week. Communities opened cooling centers and urged people to take it easy and stay hydrated.<\/p>\n<p>Forty-seven million people across big chunks of the Midwest and parts of the Ohio Valley are under an extreme heat warning through at least Tuesday. Temperatures are forecast to reach the 90s, with heat index values, or \u201cfeels-like\u201d temperatures, expected to top 100 degrees (37.8 degrees Celsius) in the region, according to the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n<p>Visiting Des Moines with family, Rachel Washburn searched for things to do with kids during a heat wave. They landed at a water sprayground before lunch Monday, where her children played tag in the cool water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy kids were quite shocked at the heat and humidity,\u201d said Washburn of her seven children ages 18 months to 17 who had been used to more temperate weather farther north in Bemidji, Minnesota. \u201cWe were hoping for some good weather, but we\u2019ll make do.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>About 56 million Americans are under an extreme heat watch as hot and humid weather is expected to move farther east later in the week, with some of the worst conditions expected by Thursday and Friday in the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast. Some areas could experience record-high temperatures, said Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, cities and event planners were already announcing adjustments for or calling off events later in the week, including a farmer\u2019s market scheduled for Tuesday in DeWitt, Michigan; a movie screening Wednesday in Fairfield, Ohio; and Thursday\u2019s food truck festival in Warwick, New York.<\/p>\n<p>The heat wave will also likely coincide with the Fourth of July holiday weekend, providing additional risk as more people have cookouts or watch fireworks outside for the 250th anniversary of American independence.<\/p>\n<p>Kleebauer said the center recommends people stay hydrated and ensure access to shady areas and air conditioning.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency workers were out in Nashville on Monday to offer water and check on people during the hottest time of the day.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Russell, a captain at the Nashville Office of Emergency Management, said he saw many empty areas where people typically sleep outside, which he said was a good sign that they found someplace cool to escape the heat for a while.<\/p>\n<p>Logan King, 29, brought a cart to fill up on cold water and snacks when the emergency workers came out to a patch of woods behind a Walmart where he and others sleep outside. The trees where people have pitched tents offer some cover from the direct sun, but not much relief.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just miserable honestly, but this helps so much,\u201d King said. \u201cEven with the shade and a tent \u2026 it gets hot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Extreme heat has also taken its toll in Europe, where temperature records were set and many heat-related deaths were reported in France.<\/p>\n<p>People can be caught off guard by the first heat wave of the year, said Dr. Roy Elrod, chief of staff at DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re happy winter\u2019s gone, you\u2019re ready to enjoy the summer, you\u2019ve just been aching for it,\u201d Elrod said. \u201cAnd so, I think we slip into kind of a position where we think it\u2019s got to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heat-related injuries can happen in a matter of minutes, he said, especially to those who don\u2019t prepare for the weather by hydrating, wearing light clothing, avoiding the hottest times of the day and minimizing exposure to the sun.<\/p>\n<p>The University of Wisconsin-Madison said it was closing 23 buildings to the public starting Tuesday, allowing only limited access to 11 others. It was relocating some summer classes after a broken water line at its cooling plant earlier this month severely reduced the ability to provide air conditioning across campus.<\/p>\n<p>Temperatures approaching 90 degrees and high humidity didn\u2019t stop Toni Kreutzer, 28, from taking a walk Monday along the shores of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, with her 13-year-old dog Chester.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like it hot,\u201d Kreutzer said. \u201cI just don\u2019t like the humidity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Kristin M. Hall in Nashville and Haya Panjwani in Washington, D.C., contributed.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3045\">US envoys arrive in Qatar for meetings on Iran, with tensions high over Hormuz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3047\">Israeli troops face resistance from residents as they push into a town in Syria<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3049\">San Francisco Archdiocese agrees to pay $395 million to settle child sex abuse lawsuits<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DES MOINES, Iowa | Summer camps and other outdoor activities were canceled Monday as tens of millions of people across the Midwest endured a heat wave that is expected to spread eastward this week. Communities opened cooling centers and urged people to take it easy and stay hydrated. Forty-seven million people across big chunks of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1101,1093,1094,1133,1134,67,1103,63],"tags":[4919,4920,4921,53,4922,4923],"class_list":["post-3051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-0-no-apple-publish","category-0recent-headlines","category-0trending","category-1gridnation","category-1gridnationandstate","category-nation","category-uncategorized","category-world","tag-dr-roy-elrod","tag-logan-king","tag-midwest","tag-national-weather-service","tag-rachel-washburn","tag-scott-kleebauer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sweltering Midwest heat cancels outdoor plans as cooling centers open and the East braces - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3051\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sweltering Midwest heat cancels outdoor plans as cooling centers open and the East braces - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DES MOINES, Iowa | Summer camps and other outdoor activities were canceled Monday as tens of millions of people across the Midwest endured a heat wave that is expected to spread eastward this week. 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