The mercury at Newark Liberty International Airport, the main weather monitoring station in New Jersey, hit 98 degrees at about 1:15 p.m., then rose to 100 degrees by 2 p.m. and to 101 degrees by 3 p.m., setting the site’s new all-time record high for June 23.

(Reuters) -Tens of millions of people in major cities across the U.S. Northeast are facing record high temperatures on Tuesday on what was expected to be the worst day of an oppressive heat wave that has spread over much of the country since late last week.