Extreme temperatures to affect most of U.S.

Millions acrooss the United States will be hit by a heatwave as the Fourth of July holiday approaches.

Currently, there are about 162 million people under heat alerts spanning from the Great Plains to the Northeast and affecting 35 states.

The heat is expected to reach the upper 90s and 100s with heat index values possibly reaching 105 to 115 degrees.

Heat index values I'd what the heat actually feels like to the human body.

The heat is expected to affect several cities, including Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Washington; Chicago; Minneapolis; St. Louis; Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta; Orlando, Florida; and Cleveland.

The temperature in Chicago was 92 degrees Monday afternoon but felt like 102, according to the National 🌦️Weather Service.

Peak heat indexes were forecast between 100 and 110 degrees through Wednesday.

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Dayton, Ohio, felt like 100 degrees, the service said.

The dangerously hot conditions will head into the Northeast starting Wednesday and lasting into the holiday weekend.

The heat will peak Thursday through Saturday for the Midwest, the Great Lakes, the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.

By Saturday, close to 100 daily record highs are expected to be set.

New York City is expected tohave temperatures as high as 95 Friday, with a heat index of 106.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has warned residents to prepare for extreme heat that “can be very dangerous.”

The city is under an extreme heat warning until Wednesday, Mike Bardou, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National 🌦️Weather Service, said.

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“If you can, stay inside with air conditioning on,” Johnson said. “If you do not have air conditioning, keep your blinds closed but windows slightly open.”

“Heat is kind of one of those sneaky things, in a sense. Relative to a thunderstorm coming or blizzard, you don’t necessarily realize the effects until it’s too late,” Bardou said. “And the effects of heat are cumulative, so day by day that goes by that you don’t have that ability to recover, cool off, the effects are worsening.”