Major heat wave expands to over 30 states through the weekend

(FOX 9) - It’s that time of year. Heat is peaking across much of the Northern Hemisphere and the United States is no exception, with a heat wave expanding to much of the eastern two-thirds of the country through the weekend.

It’s been plenty hot already in the central U.S. over the last couple of days, but that heat is pushing eastward and could include more than 150 million people from Kansas City to Boston before the week is out. 

The Twin Cities metro will get some of this heat with a heat index close to 100 degrees on Thursday and could actually top 105 degrees on Friday, but then will get some quick and much-needed relief for the weekend.

Folks to our south and the east though will endure several days of extreme heat with the peak afternoon feels like temperature topping 115 degrees in some areas. Even typically cooler locations along the Atlantic could see the heat index top 105 degrees for a couple of days, including New York City and Boston.

While all-time record highs will be safe, daily record highs could fall in several cities, but it will likely be morning low records that will get smashed with some of the warmest nights ever seen in parts of the Ohio Valley and the Northeast.