Fifty locations in the central and southern U.S. may hit or exceed record high temperatures on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Many cities, including St. Louis, Nashville and Charlotte, North Carolina, have already broken daily records this week. More than 275,000 households were left without power in Ohio early Wednesday, according to Poweroutage.us, with residents in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and West Virginia also affected. A majority of Ohio residents have been warned of extreme heat, according to the NWS, and a spokesman for AEP Ohio Electric Company told CNN that some customers will have to prepare for the holiday, which will last until Thursday. Columbus Mayor Andrew Guider urged residents to use cooling centers and swimming pools Wednesday to beat the heat and control neighbors as catering slowly returns to the internet. “AEP is dealing with the damage from last night’s storms plus the high demand due to the extreme heat. They are working to restore electricity to everyone. I know it is difficult – I am without electricity at home,” the mayor told Social Media . Records have also been broken by some electricity grid operators amid growing demand for air conditioning. Both the Tennessee Valley Authority and Texas-based ERCOT have recorded high rates of electricity use. Schools were forced to change schedules due to the extreme heat. In Wisconsin, where the NWS recorded a temperature index of 108 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee public schools fired students earlier and said they would do so again on Wednesday. “Young children and people with certain health conditions are particularly vulnerable to heat-related discomfort,” MPS said on its website. “For everyone’s safety, the district has decided to shorten the school day.” More than a dozen schools in Minnesota that are not fully air-conditioned were moved to e-learning on Tuesday, according to Minneapolis public schools. Detroit public schools have announced they will close all schools in person three hours earlier by Friday due to the extreme heat. Relief may be coming soon for the Midwest as the heat is forecast to break late Wednesday, with a cold front that will result in lower temperatures, scattered rains and thunderstorms. Temperatures will drop to more moderate levels as the front moves through Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon and Chicago on Wednesday night. The cold front is scheduled to move through Ohio by Thursday. Do not rely on fans to keep you cool in the extreme heat. See how to stay safe.
Fires are raging in Arizona, New Mexico
Meanwhile, states in the southwest faced an increased risk of fires due to winds and relative humidity on Tuesday. In Arizona, a fire on a pipeline just north of Flagstaff has burned more than 20,000 acres since Tuesday afternoon, Coconino National Forest officials said. The fire was first detected on Sunday, according to an update from InciWeb on Tuesday. A second fire just a few miles away, the Haywire fire, has burned about 4,000 acres, according to InciWeb, and both fires remain 0% reduced. New Mexico firefighters are battling the two largest wildfires in the state’s history, the Hermits Peak / Calf Canyon Fire just northeast of Santa Fe and the Black Fire in the Gila National Forest. They have burned more than 600,000 acres together. There have been 40 active, large wildfires in the United States since Tuesday that have burned nearly 1.2 million acres in six states – Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Texas and Utah, according to the National Fire Service. “More than 6,200 wildfire firefighters and support staff have been assigned to the incidents,” NIFC said on Tuesday. CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Judson Jones, Theresa Waldrop, Andy Rose and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.
