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“We had two excessive heat watches this summer, I can’t remember ever having two in the same summer,” said Dana Felton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Seattle.
It’s not just the Northwest that will “feel the temperatures” will skyrocket beyond 100 degrees. More than half of the United States is on heat alert this week.
A huge area of high pressure is building up along the Pacific Northwest and will set the stage for another classic “thermal dome”. This will cause temperatures to rise 20 to 25 degrees above normal, possibly breaking more records.
The National Weather Service in Portland, Oregon, issued an excessive heat warning for the event, as temperatures in the city are expected to reach 90 degrees upper by Wednesday and possibly eclipse 100 degrees Thursday and Friday.
Further north, Seattle expects temperatures to rise, as the usual August afternoon of 79 degrees is expected to be between the mid to high 90s Thursday through Saturday.
In total, more than 100 record temperatures could be set by the end of the week.
According to Joe Zagrodnik, an atmospheric scientist at Washington State University, the next heat wave would be considered a “once a decade” event if the decade was not the most recent decade. 2010s.
In Seattle, climate records have been held since 1894, but when it comes to August, 15 of that month’s 31 days have a daily record set in the past 12 years (2009-2020).
Seattle’s record for days at 95 degrees or above is currently four, and if predictions hold true they will reach five according to Felton, adding another record to the books.
The heat spreads across the country
It’s not just the West that will cook in the August heat, much of the entire nation will be too.
“Much of the Lower 48 will be bogged down in unusually warm conditions until midweek,” the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) said. Heat advisories have been issued from the central plains and the Mississippi Valley to the lower Great Lakes and northeast.
“Daytime lows will be quite warm along the west coast and east of the Mississippi River, where many record warm minimum temperatures are possible on Wednesday and Thursday morning,” the WPC said.
The hot temperatures combined with the high humidity will cause the temperatures to be up to 15 degrees warmer than they actually are.
Near New York City, Thursday and Friday highs will be between the low to mid-90s, with mid-90s heat indices at 104.
“In the urban corridor of northeastern New Jersey and parts of New York City, heat indices could briefly reach 105 on Thursday afternoon and possibly again on Friday,” the NWS said in New York. York.
Fires and heat linked to climate change
Incredibly, some forecasting models suggest that the heat wave would be potentially more suffocating were it not for the enormous amount of haze and smoke that currently covers much of the western sky.
“We don’t even really know if we’re going to get smoke, or how much we’re going to get, but if it’s thick enough, it will drop temperatures a few degrees,” says Felton.
Everything will depend on the direction of the wind.
With or without the addition of a smokey sky, the heat will be dangerous. A harsh reality because climate change is causing heat waves of this magnitude more frequently.
The landmark report concluded that it is “unequivocal” that humans caused the climate crisis and confirms that “widespread and rapid changes” have already occurred.
Seattle summer to remember
All-time record high temperatures fell by the wayside as cities like Seattle soared to 108 degrees while Portland rose above 116 degrees.
An all-time record was set for Canada as a nation when Lytton, B.C. saw the mercury soar to 121 degrees on June 29.
All of this during one of the most destructive wildland fire seasons on record, with more than 108 large fires in 15 different states across the United States.
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