The northeastern United States sweltered this week in a scorching summer heat wave, complete with stagnant, sticky air and no winds for relief, forecasters said. Even in a summer already filled with stretches of very hot weather, this week will be stubbornly brutal, with no relief in sight until the weekend brings thunderstorms to the region, they said. "Plain and simple, this week may feel the worst of any week for this summer in the Northeast," said Accuweather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. (Reuters)

Cars float up from a car garage in a mixture of storm water and gasoline in lower Manhattan as workers begin the process of pumping out the mess. (Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

A man eats a meal under his tree house, which acts as a shelter from wild elephants, in Gwe Cho village, Shwe Taung Yan township Ayeyarwady division January 18, 2016. Wild elephants are driving villagers in a Myanmar township to seek refuge while the animals storm their rice paddies, in Ayeyarwady in the Delta region, West of Yangon. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

A barn painted with the U.S. flag is seen in the snow covered field in Kanawha, Iowa, United States, January 16, 2016. Iowa will be the first state to hold its primary, with both Democratic and Republican events being held February 1, 2016. (Photo by Jim Young/Reuters)

Camera trapper Xavier Hubert-Brierre put this large mirror on the side of a road through the jungle in Gabon and left a camera there to record how the animals would respond to their own reflections. A silverback gorilla thought it was seeing another silverback and responded by trying to scare off the potential challenger… (Photo by Xavier Hubert-Brierre/Johns Hopkins University Press)

Ray Collins is a colorblind Australian coal miner who is in love with the ocean. He spends his off days photographing it. Collins says he enjoys capturing the moment before the moment, the anticipation, not knowing how the end of the wave's journey will play out. (Photo by Ray Collins)

Topless activist Kaila J. walks through the rain following a “Free the Nipple” demonstration in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire August 23, 2015. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

“Mountain Goats, Colorado”. A herd of mountain goats huddle together on top of Mount Evans, Colorado during a lightning storm. This photo was selected out of more than 5,000 entries to go on display in “Wilderness Forever: 50 Years of Protecting America’s Wild Places”, a new photo exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, which will run through summer 2015. (Photo by Verdon Tomajko/Smithsonian Wilderness Forever Photo Contest)