(CNN) -- As the sun set Sunday evening, millions of people in a mammoth chunk of the Central and Eastern United States finally got relief from scorching heat -- though, for many of them, it won't last long.
Summer has been out in full force for days, baking areas from Missouri to New York to Georgia in life-threatening heat, and unleashing thunderstorms that knocked out power to millions and killed 13 people on Friday and Saturday. Then, three more people died Sunday afternoon after a fresh batch of storms.
Between June 24 and Saturday, 1,928 record-high temperatures were broken or tied nationwide, not including new ones expected from Sunday that still aren't in the National Climatic Data Center's official count.
Many cities and towns in the Southeast and Midwest saw temperatures Sunday that topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit, much like they've experienced in the few days prior, and the Northeast also saw blistering heat. The National Weather Service warned, for instance, that the heat index (or what it actually feels like) near the North Carolina coast could hit 120 degrees.
Thunderstorms rolling across some of the roasting locales late Sunday afternoon brought some relief, but also danger as well.
The National Weather Service reported that a man in Calico in eastern North Carolina, died around 4:30 p.m. when a shed fell on him as he was trying to store his golf cart.
A few minutes later and about 15 miles east in Gilead, strong storm-related winds knocked over a tree that fell on a couple in a golf cart, killing them both.
These deaths were tied to a batch of storms that affected not only North Carolina, but also South Carolina and Georgia. Another band moved east from the Chicago area through Ohio, at one point prompting a tornado warning.
Tamara McBride, an Ohio Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman, said the latest storms downed trees and power lines to produce yet more outages. Yet as of Sunday night, there were no reports of new fatalities.
The forecast in that state, like in many others through the Midwest, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic region, calls for slightly cooling Monday, compared to over the weekend.
Yet temperature drops are all relative: It will be cooler, for instance, for residents of Louisville, Kentucky, but they can still expect a high of 99, and a heat index of 103, on Monday. In Columbus, Ohio, the thermometer is forecast to rise as high as 96, though it should feel even warmer.
Many other locales should be even more sweltering, with highs Monday forecast yet again to be around or above 100 degrees from Missouri to South Carolina.
The lack of any significant let up in the blistering conditions is a concern, authorities say, because the effects of heat can be cumulative -- so the longer you experience it, the more likely you are to experience conditions such as heat stroke, dehydration and the like.
"Current indications are that this heat wave may continue for much of the upcoming work week," the weather service's St. Louis bureau warned. "Do not wait until the heat wave has lasted for several days, take action today to protect your health and continue to do so."
Hundreds of thousands of people in Indiana through Maryland are still dealing with this heat without the benefits of electricity, due to a derecho -- or massive storm usually with straight-line wind damage -- that barreled eastward late Friday and into Saturday and was fueled, in part, by the extreme heat.
The destruction prompted state of emergency declarations by governors of Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia.
Deaths tied to those storms were reported from Ohio to New Jersey, all of them linked to downed trees except for the electrocution of a man in Washington.
source: CNN
