The cold front that closed the East Coast leg of the May dome on Thursday left the Mid-Atlantic, the central Plains, and the Inland Northwest carrying heat headlines into Friday. The Weather Prediction Center's HeatRisk forecast still shows orange ("Moderate") and red ("Major") values from southern Pennsylvania through northern Virginia, across Kansas and Oklahoma, and into eastern Washington through the holiday weekend. Heat Safety Week ends Friday; the advisories do not. [1][2]

The plain-English version of the medication-cabinet instructions: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi label unopened insulin cartridges for refrigeration between 36°F and 46°F and opened pens for room temperature below 86°F. EpiPens and Auvi-Q label storage between 68°F and 77°F. Many SSRI, ADHD, and thyroid medications carry the same range. A closed car in afternoon sun in Philadelphia, Wichita, or Spokane this weekend is inside the band where every one of those labels asks the owner to move the medicine. [3]

The paper's May 21 standard took the position that the federal heat campaign explains hyperthermia in a stranger but not what a 90-degree garage looks like to a refrigerator. Friday's WPC update keeps the position load-bearing. The household checklist is the same as Wednesday: insulin to the fridge now, EpiPens out of the car, a neighbor with a working refrigerator identified for a multi-hour outage, water before thirst. [2][3]

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago