{"id":585812,"date":"2026-04-15T14:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585812\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:10:21","slug":"unusual-april-heat-wave-could-smash-record-temperatures-in-eastern-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585812\/","title":{"rendered":"Unusual April heat wave could smash record temperatures in eastern US"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heat wave<\/a> threatening to shatter record high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

The heat is unusual for April, not only because it\u2019s scorching much of the nation so early in the year<\/a> but also for its duration. The near-record temperatures are expected to last into this weekend, forecasters say.<\/p>\n

The potentially dangerous heat comes after severe storms tore through<\/a> Kansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin on Monday and Tuesday. There\u2019s a possibility of more storms on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s not unprecedented to see high temperatures climb toward 90 degrees (32 Celsius) on an April day, the length of such an April heat wave is rarely seen, experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s borderline unprecedented as far as the duration of it this time of year,\u201d said John Feerick, senior meteorologist at the forecasting firm AccuWeather.com.<\/p>\n

Feerick said that starting Wednesday \u201cwe\u2019re going to have records challenged from basically Georgia all the way up through the New York City area and back towards the Ohio Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Weather Service is projecting a high temperature around 86 degrees (30 Celsius) for Central Park in New York City on Wednesday. The record high for the date is 87, which has stood since 1941.<\/p>\n

Even hotter weather is expected in Philadelphia, where Wednesday\u2019s high is expected to be 92 degrees (33 C). Other likely hot spots include Washington, D.C., which could see a high of 94 (34 C); and Atlanta, where the high is projected to be 88 (31 C).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really some very impressive heat for the middle of April, for sure,\u201d Feerick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing about this is that the humidity is not summertime levels,\u201d he added. That means it won\u2019t feel as hot as a sizzling July day.<\/p>\n

However, the early-season heat can be more stressful on people\u2019s bodies<\/a> since they haven\u2019t had a chance to acclimate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of one of those things where it\u2019s a little more stressful to the body because you\u2019re not used to it the first time around,\u201d Feerick said.<\/p>\n

Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer in the U.S.<\/a>, the weather service warns. Infants and young children; older adults, people with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women<\/a> are especially vulnerable to heat-related injuries<\/a> and death.<\/p>\n

A strong ridge of high pressure fueling moisture into the southern plains was responsible for bringing the unusual heat to the eastern U.S., the weather service said.<\/p>\n

Though Wednesday is a day when many records could fall, the heat wave will continue through Friday in many areas, forecasters said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\u201cWidespread lower to even middle 90s are expected Friday across the lower elevations of the Carolinas, which could set additional daily records and perhaps come close to some monthly records,\u201d the agency\u2019s Weather Prediction Center wrote in a memo.<\/p>\n

The heat wave should finally be breaking down by Sunday as a strong cold front moves toward the Eastern Seaboard, and then it should be \u201cpleasantly cooler\u201d by Monday with the front heading out to sea, the weather service said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1927,5786,1687,1685,3506,3505,9092,793,681,15950,236189,8640,8641,6429,3508,1997,2005,1999,3,2256,5631,3234,2085,8643,5614,34470,2219,2222,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,5148,2986,1745],"class_list":["post-585812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-ap-top-news","tag-atlanta","tag-climate","tag-climate-and-environment","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-ga-state-wire","tag-general-news","tag-georgia","tag-heat-waves","tag-john-feerick","tag-maryland","tag-md-state-wire","tag-minnesota","tag-nc-state-wire","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-north-carolina","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-sc-state-wire","tag-south-carolina","tag-storms","tag-tennessee","tag-tn-state-wire","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-virginia","tag-weather","tag-wisconsin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}