A heat wave has hit the Shenandoah Valley and much of Virginia as sweltering temperatures hit 100 degrees on Thursday, causing parched fields and yards. This is weather usually seen in mid-July with crunchy browned grass, high humidity, and blistering black top.

In southwestern Rockingham County outside Harrisonburg, Mennonite and Amish farmers worked their dry fields, hoping for a rain shower to encourage a better harvest. Their un-airconditioned houses were steamy with the heavy, hot air as farm animals looked for shade, swishing their tails at a persistent army of flies that appeared to flourish in the hot weather. Overheated cows stood chest-deep in farm ponds, cooling off in the mid-day heat.