Heat Wave Smashes 1K+ Records in Week

The nation is sizzling this week, breaking a whopping 1,015 daily high temperature records in just the seven days ending Tuesday alone. That's significant, considering records typically aren't broken until July or August, the AP reports. And don't get your hopes up for any sort of relief: Forecasts show more records are set to be broken the rest of the week in the central and western US, and over the weekend on the East Coast.

The AP has a number of anecdotes to illustrate the effects of the heat wave, some amusing (a father and son fried bacon in a skillet on their driveway on a 105-degree day in Oklahoma) and some sad (Kansas residents are praying for rain as four days of 111-degree temperatures—or higher—threaten the corn crop). In the Rocky Mountains, the high temperatures and strong winds are fueling wildfires. But in Seattle, at least, temperatures are cooler than usual—about 60 degrees Tuesday. (More severe weather stories.)