Portland, Oregon.- About 130 million people were bracing Saturday for a heat wave expected to last into next week that has already broken records with dangerously high temperatures and is expected to affect more people from the East Coast to the West Coast, forecasters said.
The sweltering heat and humidity could combine to push temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in parts of the Northeast Pacific, central Atlantic and Northeast, said Jacob Asherman, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Weather Service.
In Oregon, records are possible in cities such as Eugene, Portland and Salem, Asherman said. Dozens more records could fall across the United States, Asherman said, prompting millions of people to seek relief from the blanket of heat in air-conditioned public places from Bullhead City, Arizona, to Norfolk, Virginia.
“We are certainly experiencing a fairly anomalous event that looks set to continue at least through midweek,” Asherman said.
Meanwhile, at the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon, music fans braved the heat by drinking cold water, seeking shelter in the shade or cooling off under mist fans.
Angela Quiroz, 31, wet her scarf and hat and applied sunscreen to protect herself from the heat at the music event.
“There is definitely a difference between shade and sun,” Quiroz said. “But when you’re in the sun, it feels like you’re cooking.”
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