Midwest can’t get any relief from oppressive heat

When the air conditioner stopped recently in Ashley Jackson’s Southfield, Mich., home, so too did normal conversations and nightly rest.

“Inside the house it was 91 degrees. … I wasn’t talking to anybody. Nobody was talking to anybody,” said Jackson, 23, who works as a short-order cook in Detroit. “We mostly slept, but it was hard to sleep because of the heat. I probably got about four hours of sleep each night.“

St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago and several other Midwest cities already have set record highs this week or are on the verge of doing so. And with even low temperatures setting heat records, residents are left searching for any relief, day or night.