Stumpy the mascot dances near “Stumpy” the cherry tree at the tidal basin in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. The weakened tree is experiencing its last peak bloom before being removed for a renovation project that will rebuild seawalls around Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park. (Photo by Nathan Ellgren/AP Photo)

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)

Athletes compete in a log carrying relay race event at Peruibe beach during the Indigenous Games, near the Tapirema community of Peruibe, Brazil, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Hundreds of Indigenous athletes gather this weekend in the south of Sao Paulo state to hold their version of the Olympic Games. They will compete for medals in archery, tug of war, athletics, Indigenous wrestling and other sports. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

St. Mark's and Panagia Erithiani church congregations perform “Rocket War” by firing thousands of home-made rockets across the sky during Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations in the town of Vrontados on the Greek island of Chios on April 19, 2014. Greek habit of throwing handmade rockets with the aim of hitting the bell tower of the church at the other side during the celebration of the service at midnight before Easter Sunday. (Photo by Cem Oksuz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

5-year-old Rina Kumari rubs her eye while cracking stones on the banks of Mahananda river in Siliguri, northeast India, March 5, 2005. Over 400 million people in India live below the internationally agreed poverty line (living on less than US $1 per day). According to estimates, several hundred thousand children work as labourers and beg on the streets in India. (Photo by Desmond Boylan/Reuters)

In this photo submitted by the Washington Post tilted “The Moment Time Stopped”, survivors piled bodies of the dead outside for weeks after earthquake on January 14, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck in 2010, and the Haitian government has said more than 300,000 people were killed. The exact toll is unknown because there was no systematic effort to count bodies among the chaos and destruction. (Photo by Carol Guzy/AP Photo/The Washington Post)

Canada Women's Eight throw coxwain Kristen Kit into the water after winning gold in the Women's Eight final at the Sea Forest Waterway during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan on July 30, 2021. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

Baby giraffe of Niger (Giraffa Camelopardalis) “Kenai” (R), born on August 25, 2016, kisses his mother “Dioni” on August 31, 2016 at the zoo of La Fleche, northwestern France. (Photo by Jean-Francois Monier/AFP Photo)