Amazon opens public cooling center at Seattle headquarters as city bakes

An air-conditioned meeting site at Amazon's Seattle headquarters is among dozens of public cooling centers now open in the city as the Pacific Northwest bakes in record-shattering heat.

With a 1,000-person capacity, the Amazon meeting center is among 36 locations where local residents can seek refuge amid unprecedented temperatures, the city of Seattle announced Monday on its and Amazon confirmed in an email. Many residents in the area lack air conditioning due to the region's normally temperate climate. But a so-called heat dome — a heat wave that hovers over a region — has pushed temperatures into the triple digits across the Pacific Northwest.