Heat Wave Reaches Midwestern America, and Everyone Bakes in the Sun

Cities like St. Louis, Chicago, and Des Moines will face triple digital heat indexes on Monday, June 23.

Dick Kraklow, a welder from Muskego, Wisconsin, drove into Minneapolis with his family for the Minnesota Street Road Association, where you celebrate classic cars. Mr. Kraklow, age 42, was packing up to get ready to go back to Wisconsin instead of displaying their collection. “It’s just too hot,” he said. Tons of Americans felt uncomfortably hot on Saturday, June 21, as a dangerous rush of heat moved towards the Midwest and Central plains.

The National Weather Service reported that in Des Moines, Chicago, and St. Louis, temperatures broke 100°F. In Omaha, it said that you would feel like it was 100° to 110° in the shade!

This heat wave is expected to move south east over the weekend. New York City, Washington, and Philadelphia are expected to move towards 100 degrees over the next couple of days.

Heat waves get more intense and stay for a longer time due to climate change, though it is hard to say if one specific heat wave was definitely caused by climate change. To deal with the intense condition, cities around the Midwest opened their cooling centers and issued warnings advising residents to always put on enough sunscreen and to check on neighbors and people that they know to make sure that they were safe.

Almost all parts of the government, including parks, fire departments, and even hospitals, are collaborating with utility companies to make sure people remain safe during this challenge. Those places got an uptick of activities from people who don’t have AC or lost it in the storm which occurred in May that damaged large sections of the city.

In Des Moines, a breeze made things more relaxed and cool, but not everybody hates the warm heat wave. Duane Huey, a 72 year old local resident, left the Price Chopper Supermarket with 4 jugs of water. “Actually, I love the heat. As I’ve gotten older, the cold gets to me more,” he said, chuckling.

If the hot conditions are impacting you, you can consider going to a nearby cooling station.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/us/heat-wave-midwest-central-us.html