Heat wave hits US

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Another heat wave blankets Washington, DC on Saturday (July 7) as temperatures hit triple digits and exceeded 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) for the 10th straight day.

The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for the nation's capital city, where temperatures reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) just after 4 p.m. in the afternoon.

SOUNDBITE: BOB TRIMBLE, TOURIST FROM PITTSBURGH, SAYING (English):

"Today we thought it was going to be a 105 (Fahrenheit) here and we think it is. So we're managing, it's a good day. At least the wind is blowing."

SOUNDBITE: ELLEN PINOT, WASHINGTON D.C. RESIDENT SAYING (English):

"It's absolutely terrible. I mean it's just incredibly hot and I just worry about people who are without air conditioning, people who are out on the street."

It is only the fifth time on record that the high temperature in the Washington D.C. reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

Across the country, more than two dozen people have died, including a four-month old girl from Indiana who police say was left in a car outside her home for an extended period of time when temperatures were above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius).

A cold front from Canada was expected to move south and break the record-setting heat and lower temperatures to below average levels over much of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states by Monday.

Severe weather, including thunderstorms and damaging winds, was likely to accompany the cooler temperatures, forecasters said.