Temperatures may hit 100 from Chicago to Washington this weekend

Temperatures may reach 100 degrees later this week from the Mississippi River to the mid-Atlantic, including Chicago and Washington, boosting energy demand.

Chicago is expected to reach 100 in two days and Washington may see 99 by the end of the week, according to the National Weather Service. Commodity Weather Group LLC President Matt Rogers said he thinks Washington will break 100.

“By Thursday and Friday, Chicago and Washington, D.C., should see their first 100-degree high temperatures of the year based on this fast moving heat surge,” Rogers said from his office in Bethesda, Maryland. “This event does not hit the Northeast as hard.”

Temperatures in the 90s and above in large population areas send more people to air conditioners to get cool, which in turn raises power-plant fuel prices and demand for electricity. A heat wave throughout the Northeast and into eastern Canada last week pushed up day-ahead electricity prices to a three-year high in New York on June 21.

New York is expected to reach a high of 93 by June 29 and Boston's temperature may be 90 the next day, according to the Weather Service. A high of 94 is forecast for Philadelphia by the weekend. Highs may reach 102 in Richmond, Virginia; 97 in Baltimore; and 94 in Trenton, New Jersey, the Weather Service said.

Toronto may see 91 this weekend, according to Environment Canada.

Central Heat

The central U.S. from North Dakota to Texas is already in the grip of a heat wave, according to the Weather Service. Wichita, Kansas, has had two days of temperatures above 100 and is forecast to have four more before the high drops to 99 this weekend, the agency said. Tulsa, Oklahoma, may end the week with seven days above 100.

Houston's high today may reach 102 and temperatures may then linger in the 90s for the rest of the week, according to the Weather Service.

The heat may moderate in the Northeast, where temperatures are expected to be seasonal from July 1 to July 5, according to MDA EarthSat Weather in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The central U.S. is forecast to stay 5 to 7 degrees above normal through July 10.

Rogers said the western U.S. will probably remain seasonal during the next two weeks.

For July 1, the normal average temperature in New York City is 76, according to MDA. It's 72 in Boston; 79 in Washington; 80 in Atlanta; 74 in Chicago; 84 in Houston; 64 in Seattle and 73 in Burbank, California.

-- Editors: Charlotte Porter, Bill Banker

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstetsbloomberg.net