PROMISED LAND, Pa.—It’s not exactly flowing with milk and honey—just ask the area’s struggling black bears—but Promised Land offered respite Sunday for city folks in the Northeast trying to escape a nearly weeklong hot spell that only threatened to intensify.
Those with the resources fled to pools, beaches and higher elevations like Promised Land State Park, at 1,800 feet in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains and a drive of about 2.5 hours from New York City and Philadelphia.
From the Pacific Northwest to the southern Great Plains to the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor, more than 85 million Americans were under excessive heat warnings or heat advisories issued by the National Weather Service. The agency warned of “extremely oppressive” conditions from Washington to Boston….