OSWEGO - Stifling heat prompted schools to send students home early and triggered strong thunderstorms that toppled trees, killing a logger and leaving as many as 50,000 homes and businesses without power.

In northern New York, the Lewis County Sheriff's Department said 47-year-old Kenneth Yousey Jr. was loading logs on his truck around 12:15 p.m. when high winds toppled trees that struck him from behind. Rescuers were hampered by power outages and fallen trees. An autopsy was ordered to determine the cause of death.

In Jefferson County, emergency dispatchers received several reports of a funnel cloud in the town of Lorraine around noon that knocked down trees that damaged at least one home and garage.

National Grid said the hardest hit area was Oswego County, where nearly 19,000 customers were without power early Tuesday afternoon.

The fast-moving storms were pushed by winds of between 40 and 60 mph. Oswego police said the high winds knocked down numerous tree limbs and power lines. There were also reports of hail.

Authorities temporarily closed the northbound and southbound lanes of Interstate 81 near Pulaski because of wires in the road. They say routes 104 and 3 in Mexico are shut down because of downed wires and trees.

Students in numerous lower Hudson Valley school districts were sent home early Tuesday for the second day in a row because of unbearable heat in old buildings without air conditioning.

The temperature reached the upper 90s on Monday and Tuesday, but forecasters were calling for cooler weather on Wednesday.