• Kangaroo escapes Australia wildfire as heat wave breaks records

    Australian Broadcasting Corporation via EPA

    A kangaroo crossing a road in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, as it escapes from a bushfire. Several homes have been lost in a 25,000-hectare fire in Victoria's southeast.

    Kerry Lawrence / NSW Rural Fire Service via AP

    A fire burns in the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park on Jan. 18, 2013.

    Firefighters are battling scores of wildfires in southeastern Australia as hot, dry and windy conditions combine to raise the threat, The Associated Press reports. 

    The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that emergency warnings are in place in the states of Victoria and New South Wales, and that the body of a man was found on Friday in a burnt-out vehicle near the town of Seaton.

    The BBC reported on Friday that Sydney was experiencing its hottest day on record, with temperatures in the city reaching 45.8 degrees Celsius (114.44 degrees Fahrenheit).

    Damian Shaw / EPA

    People try to escape the heat by standing under a fire hose at Big Day Out music festival in Sydney on Jan. 18, 2013.

    Julian Smith / EPA

    A bushfire burns near Seaton, east of Melbourne, on Jan. 18, 2013. Reports state that a bushfire burning mainly in forest country about 200km east of Melbourne is 'as bad as it gets' and could continue for days or even weeks.

    Tracey Nearmy / EPA

    Rural Fire Service volunteers battle spot fires threatening homes and heading towards the Newell Highway south of the town of Coonabarabran on Jan. 18, 2013. A large 40,000 hectare bush fire is burning in the Warrumbungle National Park. Fires have destroyed more than 40 homes in New South Wales.

    NSW Rural Fire Service via Reuters

    A bushfire burns on Melbourne Street in Cessnock, about 75 miles north of Sydney, on Jan. 18, 2013.

    Record high temperatures heat up the Australian city of Sydney with the mercury hitting 114.44 degrees Fahrenheit. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

     

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  • Cool off in Big Wood River

    Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

    Payton Sehofield, 12, jumps into the Big Wood River from an old train bridge to cool off on July 9, 2012 in Sun Valley, Idaho. According to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the first six months of 2012 accounted for the warmest January-through-June period on record (since record keeping began in 1895) for the U.S. mainland. 

     

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  • Swimming hole offers relief for the power-less in Maryland

    Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

    Jeff Grayson somersaults from a rope swing into a lake at the Beaver Dam Swimming Club July 2 in Cockeysville, Maryland. Residents of the Baltimore and Washington area continue to seek ways to avoid the heat with electrical power knocked out by storms 3 days ago still impacting almost half a million people.

    Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

    Amanda Jacobs hangs from a rope swing while diving into a quarry lake at the Beaver Dam Swimming Club July 2, 2012 in Cockeysville, Maryland. Residents of the Baltimore and Washington area continue to seek ways to avoid the heat with electrical power knocked out by storms 3 days ago still impacting almost half a million people.

    Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

    Gene Holmes splashes into a quarry lake after jumping from a rope swing at the Beaver Dam Swimming Club July 2, in Cockeysville, Maryland.

    Slideshow: Storm knocks out power to millions in DC area

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    With more triple-digit heat in the forecast, millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic area were without power on Saturday after violent storms with 80-mph gusts toppled trees, cut power lines and killed six people in Virginia alone.

    Launch slideshow

     

    From NBC, msnbc.com and news services - The eastern U.S. on Monday was hammered by the fourth consecutive day of stifling heat after a weekend of violent storms that killed 15 people and knocked out power to millions.

    More than 2 million people were still without power Monday morning, with the biggest concentration of outages in the Washington, D.C. area. Continue reading here.

  • Fallen trees snarl traffic and power lines

    Karen Mahabir / AP

    A tree sitting atop a vehicle offers free firewood in Falls Church, Va., Monday, July, 2, as cleanup continued after Friday's storm, Around 2 million utility customers are without electricity across a swath of states along the East Coast and as far west as Illinois as the area recovers from a round of summer storms that has also caused at least 17 deaths.

    Slideshow: Storm knocks out power to millions in DC area

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    With more triple-digit heat in the forecast, millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic area were without power over the weekend after violent storms with 80-mph gusts toppled trees, cut power lines and killed six people in Virginia alone.

    Launch slideshow

    From NBC, msnbc.com and news services - A weekend without electricity was already trying for millions in the sweltering, storm-swept mid-Atlantic region. But Monday morning brings another grim challenge when many embark on a difficult commute over roads with darkened stoplights and likely mass-transit delays.

    To alleviate congestion around Baltimore and Washington, federal and state officials gave many workers the option of staying home Monday. Federal agencies will be open in Washington, but non-emergency employees have the option of taking leave or working from home. Maryland's governor also gave state workers wide leeway for staying out of the office. For more on the storm damage click here.

  • Heat wave blankets U.S. Northeast for second day

    Jacquelyn Martin / AP

    Girls leap through a wall of water at Yards Park in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, June 21, 2012.

    WBOY-TV reports: Temperatures in the Northeast soared into the upper 90s Thursday for a second day as residents fled to pools and beaches, tourists reorganized their sightseeing itineraries and street vendors and store owners made a small fortune selling bottled water and other cold drinks.

    New York's Central Park was forecast to reach a record 98 degrees. Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., will see similar heat with temperatures inching into the upper 90s and low 100s. The official first day of summer Wednesday set records from New York City to Burlington, Vt. Continue reading the full story.

    Jose Luis Magana / Reuters

    Timmy Doyle refreshes himself at a sprinkler as he passes by the Washington monument in Washington D.C. on Thursday, June 21, 2012.

     

     

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  • Mahout and his elephant cool off in the Yamuna river in India

    Manan Vatsyayana / AFP - Getty Images

    An Indian mahout washes his elephant in the Yamuna river in New Delhi on May 29.

    Manan Vatsyayana / AFP - Getty Images

    An Indian mahout cools off with his elephant in the Yamuna river in New Delhi on May 29. Heat wave conditions prevailed in the city and the northern state of India with the mercury registering a record high for the month of May of 111 degrees fahrenheit.

     

  • Southern California enjoys unseasonably warm temperatures

    By Rich Shulman

    This is just not fair.

    Mike Nelson / EPA

    Two paddle boarders walk their bikes at Venice Beach, California on October 13 as a mini-heat wave hit southern California. Temperatures soared 20 degrees Fahrenheit over normal highs reaching into the nineties and hundreds in the region tying record temperatures.

    Mike Nelson / EPA

    Two swimmers frolic in the waves in the Pacific Ocean at Venice Beach, California, October 13 as a mini-heat wave hit southern California.

    Mike Nelson / EPA

    Beach goers walk by the Venice Beach Haunted House on the boardwalk at Venice Beach, California, on October 13 as a mini-heat wave hit southern California.

     

  • Keeping cool at the Belgrade zoo

    Ivan Milutinovic / Reuters

    A zookeeper sprays water on a polar bear to help it cool down at Belgrade's zoo July 13.

    Ivan Milutinovic / Reuters

    Children watch as water is sprayed on an Asian elephant to help it cool down at Belgrade's zoo July 13.

    Ivan Milutinovic / Reuters

    A zookeeper sprays water on a hippopotamus to help it cool down at Belgrade's zoo July 13, 2011 as an intense heat wave sweeps Serbia with temperature reaching 104 degree Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    It must be hot for a polar bear in that kind of heat. I'm guessing zoos across the Midwest and Northeast United States will be doing the same thing today as a heat wave continues there.

    See more animals in our new Animal Tracks blog.