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Intense heat and severe storms are continuing to make their way through the United States this week and will creep into next week as summer temperatures officially take hold across the nation.
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Friday will be the last hot day for the East Coast, with numerous record highs likely for cities including Baltimore, Washington, New York, Philadelphia and Raleigh — where it reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday.
New York opened its cooling centers on Thursday as temperatures reached into the 90s.
This above-average warmth combined with high humidity will lead to dangerous heat index values of 95 to 105 degrees, but temperatures are expected to cool off this weekend.
For the West, record heat arrives Sunday and Monday, with temperatures forecast to soar into the upper 90s to low 100s. Portland and Seattle could set record highs next week.
Meanwhile, severe storms will continue through the weekend in many places.
On Thursday, there were 500 total storm reports, making it the third-most-active day of 2026 so far. More than a dozen tornadoes were reported in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Devastating damage was seen in Illinois, with homes destroyed and debris littering the ground. In the small city of Streator, an entire cul-de-sac was ravaged by the twisters.
The City of Streator said Friday that 11 homes sustained damage and that four people received minor injuries in the storms.
Neighbors of one demolished home told NBC News that the couple who lived there was trapped under the rubble and had to be pulled to safety.
NBC News witnessed another man, trapped under pieces of what appeared to be his home, complaining that his leg was broken. He was later rescued by police.
The storms also brought large hail across the middle of the country, with cars in Iowa seen being battered. Flooded roads and blinding rain were seen from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania.
As of Friday morning, there have been no reports of storm-related deaths.
But the City of Dearborn, Michigan, confirmed a tree fell on a 6-year-old during the storms. The child is facing minor injuries, a spokesperson for the city said.
Severe storms will once again be possible for 66 million people across two regions Friday.
The larger region is the mid-Atlantic, the Appalachians and the Northeast, where damaging winds will be the main threat. Cities to watch Friday include New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Raleigh and Charlotte.
The second is a smaller area of western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and small portions of New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas, where hail, strong winds, and a tornado or two are possible.
On Saturday, the severe storm risk returns to the Midwest and the Plains, where 14 million people are at risk from northern Oklahoma to Illinois and Iowa. Cities to watch include Wichita, Kansas City, St. Louis, Des Moines and Peoria.
The main hazards will be wind gusts greater than 75 mph, hail greater than 2 inches in diameter and a few tornadoes.
Severe storms will continue into Sunday, with 23 million people across the mid-Atlantic facing damaging gusts exceeding 60 mph. This threat zone includes Richmond, Norfolk, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
A mix of showers and thunderstorms is expected to push from southwest Tennessee into northern Mississippi later on Friday afternoon, with storm activity extending across parts of the Southeast and into northeast Texas.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters on Friday that the extreme weather had taken a toll on the city.
“As of Friday, June 12, at 10 a.m., residents reported 10 flooded viaducts, water in 101 basements, over 673 traffic signals down, over 8300 tree emergencies, and another 3653 trees that needed to be cleared away,” Johnson said.
Roughly 63 million people are at risk as heat and humidity fuel storms from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast. Major cities in the risk zone include New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charlotte and Washington, D.C.
This weekend, about 39 million people could face severe weather across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Kathryn Prociv is a senior meteorologist and producer for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
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