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)

A Poison Ivy and Boba Fet (Star Wars) cosplayer during the MCM Birmingham Comic Con at NEC Arena on March 18, 2017 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Ollie Millington/Getty Images)

People react following the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, found guilty of the death of George Floyd, at BLM Plaza in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 20, 2021. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Men play cricket in Kabul, Afghanistan, 16 September 2021. A humanitarian crisis and alleged widespread human rights violations are among the top challenges Afghanistan faces a month after the Taliban's lightning-fast capture of Kabul. The economic crisis threatened to push 97 percent of the 40 million people into poverty by mid-2022, the United Nations has warned. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Stringer)

Erika Kirk stands next to the microphone which was used by Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on the day he was killed as she waits to greet U.S. Vice President JD Vance before closing out AmericaFest, the first Turning Point USA summit since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on December 21, 2025. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Reuters)

Photographer Carlos Barria holds a print of a photograph he took in 2005, as he matches it up at the same location 10 years on, in Lafitte, south of New Orleans, United States, August 16, 2015. The print shows Tyler Teal cleaning up his home, September 14, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina struck. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina triggered floods that inundated New Orleans and killed more than 1,500 people as storm waters overwhelmed levees and broke through floodwalls. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Samantha Bailey takes a selfie with a staff member dressed like a raptor at the Jurassic Quest drive-thru Experience outside The Rose Bowl Stadium during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Pasadena, California, U.S., January 15, 2021. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)