The nation baked in another day of smothering heat and humidity as residents from the Midwest to Northeast anxiously anticipated a break from record-breaking temperatures.
"It's just too hot to do anything," said Robert Koval, a police officer in Newark, N.J., where the temperature soared Wednesday to 101 degrees and eclipsed a record of 97 set in 1983.
The blistering temperatures and heavy humidity combined to push heat indexes to 100 degrees and higher Wednesday in many parts of the country, including in Wrightstown, N.J., where the index was 116 before noon.
"Hot. Muggy. Icky. Sticky," said Brandy Kallenbach, a teacher at the University of Wisconsin-Superior Child Care Center, where children were kept inside.
Even northern California baked. The mercury reached 107 in Red Bluff, nearly 200 miles north of San Francisco. Cooler temperatures were expected in the Midwest and East by Friday.
The hot weather has been blamed in the deaths of several people this week, including a man in a locked car in Oak Park, Mich., a roofer in Madison County, Ky., and a man and woman in their 70s in the Philadelphia area.
In Wisconsin, health officials believe the heat has played a role in 10 deaths in the past three weeks. Missouri has had 22 heat-related deaths so far this year.
About 10 fans of teen pop star Aaron Carter were hospitalized after being overcome by extreme heat during an outdoor concert in Wilmington, Del. Emergency workers treated an additional 55 people, and the nearly 4,500 fans were hosed down by concert workers during the show because of the heat.
In parts of the northern Plains, a cold front brought some relief from the heat Wednesday, but it packed powerful thunderstorms that snapped trees and power lines and hurled grain bins across highways.
Grand Forks, N.D., declared a state of emergency following a storm that carried 101 mph wind gusts, dumped 1.61 inches of rain in about a half an hour and left about 11,000 XCel Energy customers without electricity Thursday morning.
"We've got 50 streets or better that are closed," officer Greg LaHaise said Thursday. About a dozen people suffered minor injuries, he said.
Gov. John Hoeven sent the National Guard to help clean up the town of Hillsboro, where 25 percent of the homes were damaged.
The scorching temperatures roasted a number of NFL training camps, where coaches took more precautions following last week's heatstroke death of Minnesota Vikings lineman Korey Stringer.
One Carolina Panthers player became ill Wednesday an hour into practice at the team's training camp, and a second later he began to feel dizzy.
"We all realize what football is about. It's hitting and being tough. But at some point you've got to draw the line," said Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, whose coach changed practices so players could work out in shorts instead of full pads.
High school football players in Traverse City, Mich., raced in waist-deep Lake Michigan water and sprinted on the sand, trying to keep cool during practice.
"The heat index was 108 here today," coach Matt Prisk said. "We felt the only way we could have a good practice was down on the water."
In Chicago, at least 18 firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion at a truck crash that closed parts of two interstates.
Farmers struggled to keep their livestock cool, setting up water misters and fans in stalls. Milk production was down on farms in Wisconsin and New Hampshire because of the stress put on cows by the heat.
"You do the best you can, but it's kind of hard to see them panting," said Dick Schauf, a dairy farmer in Sparta, Wis.
Archaeologists at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation outside Charlottesville, Va., still carried on with their work, digging deep holes on the estate's grounds to study past farming patterns.
"Those give us the chance to be about 5 feet down," archaeologist Sara Bonn-Harper said. "It's cooler down there."
Electricity demand soared as people cranked up air conditioners. The overseer of New York state's electrical grid, the Independent System Operator, said commercial users were asked to cut their afternoon consumption, but stressed that enough power would be available to meet demand.