Heat in Franklin, Illinois

South of the Interstate 64 corridor, afternoon heat indices peaked from 105 to 114 degrees on the afternoons of the 4th and 5th. In Benton in Franklin County, a 43-year-old man died after working outdoors in the heat. The man was found unresponsive indoors, and he was pronounced dead that evening at a local hospital. The coroner reported evidence of a heat stroke. The highest heat indices occurred on the afternoon of the 5th, when the heat index peaked at 114 degrees at Metropolis, 112 at Cairo, and 107 at Harrisburg. Actual air temperatures reached the lower to mid 90's. Hot and very humid air built up under a subtropical 500 mb ridge that was centered over the southern states and extended north through the mid Mississippi Valley.