Storms and Heat Define August Weather

Stormy weather and record highs seem to be the rule rather than the exception in the United States this August, making travel particularly unpleasant.

A brief shutdown at Baltimore-Washington International Airport Thursday had a ripple effect throughout the entire U.S. aviation system, The Baltimore Sun reports.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the longest waits occurred in New York and Boston.

A spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines said delays in Baltimore ranged from 40 minutes to slightly more than two hours.

Severe storms in northeast Ohio sparked a number of tornadoes, flattening four barns just outside of Lodi and killing at least one cow.

In Salem,Ohio, a roof was torn off a gas station and a restaurant sustained some damage.

The roof of the Black River High School in Ashland County was blown off by a tornado while storms left some 11,000 residents in Medina and Akron without power.

Temperatures reached record highs across much of the Southeast Thursday with the mercury above 100 in Georgia, North and South Carolina, and parts of Kentucky.