HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Hector Soto uses the shade to keep track of time this summer.
At 11 a.m., the parking lot attendant escapes the heat in the shadow of a tree. When the patch recedes at noon, he follows it. An hour later, he relies on another temporary spot of cool by the guard house on the lot.By 3 p.m. there's no place left to hide, and the black pavement feels like it's burning through his sandals.
"You start to get really dizzy," Soto said Thursday as the temperatures crept toward 90 degrees. "You just try to sit still in the coolest place you can find and drink a lot of water."
This summer's unrelenting heat has been sapping energy from outdoor workers, drying up crops and turning forests into kindling across Connecticut and elsewhere in the nation.
At least 78 deaths in 14 states have been blamed on the heat wave that has gripped much of country since July 19, as temperatures linger in the 90s and 100s. Missouri has the highest death toll at 27.
The heat was expected to last through Friday before a change in the jet stream brings cooler air from Canada to northern states.
Temperatures reached the 90s from the Plains to the East Coast on Thursday, with the heat index -- a measure of temperature and humidity -- breaking 100 in many places.