Eastern half of US sweltering again, with dangerous heat wave expected to last until midweek

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Tens of millions of people across the Midwest and East endured dangerously hot temperatures again on Sunday as a sprawling June heat wave that gripped much of the U.S. was expected to last well into this week.

Most of the northeastern quadrant of the country from Minnesota to Maine was under some type of heat advisory. So were parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, the National Weather Service said.

Weather service offices throughout the region warned of sweltering and sometimes life-threatening conditions through Wednesday.

“Please plan ahead to take frequent breaks if you must be outside, stay hydrated and provide plenty of water and shade for any outdoor animals,” the service office in Wakefield, Virginia, said on X.

Meteorologists say a phenomenon known as a heat dome, a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere that traps heat and humidity, is responsible for the extreme temperatures.

Twin 6-year-old girls were among three people killed when thunderstorms brought trees down onto homes in central New York before dawn Sunday, according to the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office. Several inches of rain fell over just a few hours, inundating the small town of Kirkland.

A neighbor, Jared Bowman, said he ran next door to help the twins' mother escape through a window after a giant maple crashed through the roof around 4 a.m.

“She was yelling, ‘Get my kids out!’” Bowman told the Post-Standard.

A 50-year-old woman died when a tree hit a house nearby, sheriff's officials said. The streets were littered with electrical lines and thousands in the region were without power.

Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in 32 counties due to the strong storms and forecast extreme heat.

Sunday marked the second straight day of extreme heat across the Midwest and East Coast. Heat indexes on Sunday hit 103 F (39.4 C) in Chicago and 101 F (38.3 C) on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, turning that city’s annual naked bike ride into a sticky and sweaty affair.

Lynn Watkins, 53, director of Sacred Hearts Day Care in Sun Prairie, a Madison suburb, said that she tried to sit outside to grill but it was so hot she had to go inside. She plans to cancel all outdoor activities at the day care on Monday with highs around 93 F (33.8 C) forecast.

“I can’t stand being outside when it’s like this,” she said. “I just want to sit in my air conditioning.”

The heat index in Pittsburgh reached 105 F, and hovered around 104 F (40 C) in Columbus, Ohio.

Forecasts in Philadelphia called for a heat index of 108 F (42.2 C) on Monday.

The city’s public health department declared a heat emergency through Wednesday evening. Officials directed residents to air-conditioned libraries, community centers and other locations, and set up a “heat line” staffed by medical professionals to discuss conditions and illnesses made worse by the heat.

With temperatures in the mid-80s, Delaware's Rehoboth Beach was crowded Sunday.

“It’s only going to get worse,” said beachgoer Vak Kobiashvili. “People are trying to get out to the beach before it’s too hot to really even manage to be outside.”

Kobiashvili said even his dog didn’t want to be outside.

“East Coast weather, at least from my perspective, is just very sweaty in the summer,” he said. “It’s that walking through a swamp kind of feeling.”

Forecasters warned the heat index in Cromwell, Connecticut, would reach 105 F on Sunday, making for a steamy day during the final round of the PGA Travelers Championship. Fans sought shelter under trees and on air-conditioned benches. Many lined up for water at a hydration station near the ninth green.

Karin Skalina, of New York, had been in the sun-soaked bleachers by the eighth green and eventually sought relief on a ventilated cooling bench. “Didn’t work,” she said.

“(We’re) trying to follow the shade,” Skalina said.

Courtney Kamansky, of Newington, Connecticut, came prepared with extra water bottles. Asked if she was able to find shade, she pointed to her umbrella and said, “I bring it with me.”

Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz got sick Saturday while playing in extreme heat against the Cardinals in St. Louis. Seattle Mariners reliever Trent Thornton, facing the Cubs in Chicago, also fell ill.

The heat is expected to persist this week with the highest temperatures shifting eastward. New York City is expected to see highs around 95 F (35 C) on Monday and Tuesday. Boston is on track for highs approaching 100 F (37.7 C) on Tuesday, and temperatures in Washington, D.C., were expected to hit 100 F on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mark Gehring, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sullivan, Wisconsin, said this level of heat is not uncommon during the summer months in the U.S., although it usually takes hold in mid-July or early August. The most unusual facet of this heat wave is the sheer amount of territory sweltering under it, he said.

“It's basically everywhere east of the Rockies,” he said, referring to the Rocky Mountains. “That is unusual, to have this massive area of high dewpoints and heat.”

This story has been updated to correct that Rehoboth Beach is in Delaware, not Maryland.

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Associated Press journalists Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; Mingson Lau in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; and Jimmy Golen in Cromwell, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

Flooding in Canastota, in Madison County, N.Y., from a severe storm in the early morning of Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Tom Connolly/Spectrum News via AP)

A home in Clark Mills, N.Y., that had a tree fall through it during a severe storm in the early morning, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Tom Connolly/Spectrum News via AP)

People cool off in a Lake Michigan shore Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Beach goers crowd a public beach on the Lake Michigan shore, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Jude Puroway cools off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Children run through water sprayed by a fire truck to cool off outside Busch Stadium before the start of a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, June 22, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A man cools off under a sprinkler provided by a Chicago Fire Department during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Bay Puro cools off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

People cool off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Jude Puroway cools off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Kid cool off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Bubba the English Bulldog plays in a pool in his family's front yard on a hot Friday, June 20, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Seattle Mariners pitcher Trent Thornton (46) is helped off the field after suffering from heat exhaustion during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Baseball fans cool off under a sprinkler provided by the Chicago Fire Department outside of Wrigley Field after a hot baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

With extreme heat warnings for the Pittsburgh region over the weekend, HVAC technician Joe Eisley begins the process of replacing an air conditioning unit outside a home in Greenfield, Pa., Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.

The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.

The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”

Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”

Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”

The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.

Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.

Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.

The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.

“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”

For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.

And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”

Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.

In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.

At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.

The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

People react to a photograph of President Donald Trump on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery walk past the portrait of President Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Visitors stop to look at a photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)