Heat dome forces cold-water treatment advice for 70 million Americans
Health officials urged immediate cold-water immersion for heat-stroke patients as a high-pressure heat dome continued to affect about 70 million Americans on 29 July. The National Weather Service had issued a heat advisory for the Washington, D. C. , Maryland and Virginia region on 23 July, warning of severe thunderstorms and lingering wildfire smoke.
The agency also warned of flash-flooding thunderstorms in the Midwest and East Coast and projected heat indices up to 116 °F across the central United States. A persistent high-pressure system was expected to drive temperatures above 100 °F across the South and Midwest, prompting excessive-heat advisories for roughly 70 million people, as reported by AP and The Guardian. Subsequent reports indicated that heat alerts eventually covered more than 100 million people and that a storm system moving from the Plains toward the Great Lakes and the I-95 corridor would bring damaging winds, hail and flash-flood risks, according to ABC News and USA Today.
