PHOTOS: Eastern US cooks for one more day before 30-degree temperature drop
Jeremy Tanner
Dwayne Chapaman wears a wet cloth on his head to combat the heat while crossing Broad Street in Philadelphia. Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
After a brutal heat wave baked the U.S. East Tuesday, smashing at least 50 records, a precipitous drop in temperatures is now in the near future, meteorologists say. This photo shows a person using an umbrella to shield themselves from the sun Wednesday, June 25, 2025, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)A U.S. Capitol Police officer pours water on his head Wednesday, June 25, 2025, outside the Capitol in Washington. The scorching temperatures arrived in the central and eastern portions of the U.S. late last week and remained trapped by a heat dome effect before moving to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)A heat dome happens when high pressure atmospheric conditions move slowly over a region, trapping the heat, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The so-called “capping” effect allows heat to continue to build. (The Associated Press)Moisture blown northward from the Gulf of Mexico caused elevated humidity in the affected regions, causing punishing conditions on the ground. The photo above shows a boy cooling off in a mister at Kauffman Stadium before a baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)Over the past three days, there were hundreds of records broken from the Plains to the East Coast. On Tuesday, every coastal state from Maine to South Carolina hit 100 degrees somewhere, with Georgia and Florida reaching 99. Baltimore reached a sweltering 105 degrees Fahrenheit, crushing the prior record by 4 degrees. (NWS/NOAA)The heat was so intense in some cities that the physical infrastructure failed to function normally. In Chesapeake, Virginia traffic came to a standstill as firefighters were called into to spray down a local drawbridge that malfunctioned due to the heat. Roads buckled in New Jersey and Chicago, causing local officials to make emergency repairs. (City of Chesapeake)Relief is finally in sight, however, as a weather whiplash is in the forecast for this wee. A cold front is set to move down from New England bringing clouds and temperatures below the average for this time of year. Boston’s high for Friday is 34 degrees less than it was for Tuesday. After a day or two temperatures in the East are expected to climb back up to normal levels for late June. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
