US to get a reprieve from hot temperatures

National Weather Service Meteorologist Andrew Orrison said Sunday that a cold front will move through the South and the mid-Atlantic bringing thunderstorms and showers.

He said temperatures there will drop to a more normal range: mid- to upper-80s. Residents of the Southeast and Tennessee Valley will experience temperatures in the low 90s — "still fairly warm," Orrison said, but not as hot as it had been.

The Midwest can expect cooler weather, as well, with temperatures in the 80s.

The cooler air began sweeping southward Sunday in the eastern half of the country, bringing down some temperatures by 15 or more degrees from Saturday's highs, which topped 100 in cities including Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Louisville, Ky.

It was 80-plus degrees in New York City on Sunday night. Some visitors to the city said they'd spent much of the weekend shopping in air-conditioned stores rather than exploring Central Park as they had planned.

"But that's OK, shopping is always good in New York," said Linda Boteach of Baltimore, waiting to board a bus that was spewing exhaust into the already hot night.

"It was worse in Baltimore," Boteach said. "It's all relative."

The heat of the past several days has been blamed for at least 46 deaths across the country.

In Chicago, the Cook County medical examiner's office determined Sunday that eight more people died from heat-related causes, adding to the 10 deaths previously confirmed Saturday. The deaths included a 100-year-old woman, 65-year-old woman, a 53-year-old man, a 46-year-old woman and an unidentified man believed to be about 30 years old.