Millions of people across the American Midwest are seeking relief from a severe heat dome that has enveloped the eastern United States this week. In Dayton, Ohio, families gathered at a splash pad on the banks of the Great Miami River to cool off. Michelle Winston, visiting with her partner and daughter, said it was their first visit of the year but they would return given the heat.
The heat has prompted emergency measures, including Operation White Flag in Louisville, Kentucky, which opens shelters when the heat index exceeds 95F (35C) – nine degrees above normal for this time of year. Several Ohio cities broke their daily high temperature records on Sunday. The soaring temperatures have also led to a spate of drownings at lakes, quarries and rivers; Chicago fire crews handled 90 heat- and water-related calls over the weekend. Heat kills more people in the US than hurricanes, tornadoes and floods combined.
Experts say the region's expanding suburbs of concrete and asphalt act as heat reservoirs, releasing stored heat at night and increasing demand for cooling systems, often powered by fossil fuels. A 2023 study found that the Midwest could become a "moist heat stress hotspot" if global temperatures rise more than 3C above current levels. In rural areas, "corn sweat" – the release of moisture from corn leaves – adds to humidity and worsens the heat.
Farmer Bill Wiley, who grows wheat, corn, soybeans and vegetables on 500 acres in Shelby County, Ohio, has shifted most of his work to the evening to avoid the heat. He said the weather had become much less predictable, citing severe flooding from March rainstorms and an extreme drought last year, events he said were pushing the limits of what many considered normal.
West Virginia is enduring record temperatures and an extreme heat warning not experienced since the 1930s. Climate activist Thomas Rodd, from Moatsville, said thousands of old gas wells across West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and Ohio are leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and called for increased funding to stop them. He said there is almost total scientific agreement that record-high temperatures lie ahead, and noted that the state has contributed to the problem by burning large amounts of coal and gas. Rodd also pointed to other climate-related extremes affecting the state.
