Nation bakes as serious heat wave hits early

(AP) - If you're feeling hot this week, it's not a mirage. From Montana to Louisiana, hundreds of heat records have been slashed as harrowing temperatures leave cornfields parched and city sidewalks sizzling.

On Tuesday 251 new daily high temperature records were set, boosting to 1,015 the number of records set during the previous week. Many more records were expected to have been set Wednesday.

The consequences range from comical— a bacon-fried driveway in Oklahoma — to catastrophic, as wildfires consuming parts of the Rocky Mountains are fueled by oppressive heat and gusty winds.

The record-breaking numbers might seem big, but they're hard to put into context — the National Climatic Data Center has only been tracking the daily numbers broken for a little more than a year, said Derek Arndt, head of climate monitoring at the center.

Still, it's impressive, given that records usually aren't broken until the scorching months of July and August.

"Any time you're breaking all-time records in mid- to late-June, that's a healthy heat wave," Arndt said.

And if forecasts hold, more records could fall in the coming days in the central and western parts of the country and extend to the East Coast through the weekend.

Though it's been a week that could fry a person's soul — and their soles and hands, really anything exposed to the relentless sun — no matter where you are, the objective is the same: stay cool.

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HIGH STAKES, HIGH TEMPS

All bets are off at the famed thoroughbred racetrack Churchill Downs during the heat wave — at least they will be Thursday.

The Louisville, Ky., venue canceled its racing card as meteorologists predicted temperatures would touch at least 100 degrees. Track spokesman Darren Rogers said he thinks it's the first time the home of the Kentucky Derby has canceled racing due to extreme heat.

Longtime horse trainer Dale Romans has seen the toll that sweltering temperatures can take on the animals.

"I've seen horses have heat strokes, and it's not a pretty sight," the veteran Kentucky trainer said Wednesday.

Romans said he thinks most of the horses and humans could handle the heat, but it's not worth the risk, especially when the dirt track soaks up the sun's heat.

"These are professional athletes," he said. "They're exerting all their energy, and everybody knows how tough it is to get that hot. Some of the horses just can't cool down fast enough afterward."

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PRAYING FOR RAIN

On the treeless, wind-swept Kansas prairie, the searing mix of sun and triple-digit heat is a recipe for agricultural disaster.

Some residents have taken to praying for rain and cooler temperatures in this sparsely populated western part of the state. Menlo farmer Brian Baalman can testify to that.

"Everybody is just sick of it. They just wish we would get a good rain," he said. "It has become a point to pray for it at church on Sunday, for sure."

Temperatures in the area have hovered around 111 degrees or higher for the past four days. Hill City, about 50 miles from Menlo, reached 115 on Tuesday and Wednesday — earning it the distinction of the nation's hottest spot, according to the National Weather Service.

Much of the fortunes in the Menlo area are tied to corn crops, whose yields contribute not only to foodstuffs but also to ethanol-blended gasoline. But day after unyielding day of blazing sun and high heat have baked the top six inches of soil, and plant roots can break through to the moister soil below.

Growing corn in these hot and windy conditions, Baalman said, is impossible.

"It is getting to look ugly, the longer this keeps going on without a drink," Baalman said.

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EVENING FIREFIGHTING

Wildfires pack intense heat, but soaring temperatures and whipping winds are piling on the men and women battling the blazes raging across the Rocky Mountains.

U.S. Forest Service firefighter Owen Johnson had to work overnight and avoided the piping-hot daytime temperatures in the region, which toppled records in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. On Tuesday, Colorado Springs reached 101 degrees, and Miles City in eastern Montana soared to 111 degrees, the highest ever recorded in that area.

A call came in after Johnson's regular shift Monday in the Helena National Forest in Montana. A wildfire was racing through the Scratchgravel Hills, threatening at least 200 homes. But firefighters had to wait pose a direct attack until midnight, when the temperatures cooled and the wind died down.

On Tuesday morning, Johnson figured he had worked more than 24 hours, and probably wouldn't quit until the sun went down.

His sweaty hands gripping a banana and a cup of coffee, he gave a tired shrug when asked to compare this fire to others in his 13-year career.

"Every fire's different," he said. "They all pose their own risks and challenges."

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EVERYTHING'S BETTER WITH BACON

Aaron Anderson and his 4-year-old son bypassed the proverbial cooked egg Tuesday, opting instead to fry bacon on their driveway in Coweta, Okla.

Anderson's thermometer