United States to Punish Temperatures as Huge “Thermal Dome” Takes Over the Country | Weather in the United States

A massive “heat dome” of excessive heat will settle in the heart of the contiguous United States from Monday, according to forecasts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, bringing high temperatures to the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, to the north. from the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest and California.

Places accustomed to milder summers are poised for punitive heat, with temperatures expected to exceed 100F (37C) in the Dakotas and Montana, a state in which the city of Billings has already experienced 12 days above 95F (35C) this month. Areas of states like Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma could have “sweltering” temperatures as high as 110F (43C), Noaa said, while cities like Des Moines, Minneapolis and Chicago will get significantly above heat. the average.

The latest, but most extensive, of a parade of heat waves to sweep the United States is likely to bring thunderstorms and lightning to some areas, as well as worsening drought conditions classified as “severe.” or “exceptional” which now cover two-thirds of the American West.

Climatologists have said the barrage of heat waves over the past month, which has dried out farms, warped roads and led to the erasure of long-standing temperature records, is being fueled by predicted climate change d human origin – but admit being surprised at the ferocity of the assault.

“The summer has been harsh and dangerous, some of the heat waves have been devastatingly hot,” said Michael Wehner, principal investigator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “We certainly expected these kinds of temperatures as global warming continues, but I don’t think anyone predicted they would be that hot right now. I don’t think we could have expected so many heat waves in the same general area in a summer.

The most extraordinary of recent heat waves occurred in the Pacific Northwest in June, where the normally mild region was bathed in heat that broke temperature records of over 10F (5.5C) . The heat, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of people in cities like Seattle and Portland, where it hit 116F (46C), has caused several scientists to question their previous estimates of how the climate crisis will reshape the world. severity of the heat wave.

“You would expect warmer heatwaves with climate change, but the estimates may have been too conservative,” Wehner said. “With the Pacific Northwest heat wave, you would conclude that the event would be almost impossible without climate change, but in a simple statistical analysis from before this summer, you would also include that it would also be impossible with the change. climate. It’s problematic, because the event happened.

Wehner said the ongoing heat waves should prompt governments and businesses to better prepare for the health impacts of high temperatures, which range from heat stroke to breathing difficulties caused by smoke emitted from forest fires in more and more important.

“The good news is that heat waves are now a bit more on people’s radar,” he said. “But these kinds of events are completely unprecedented, you’d expect records to be broken by tenths of a degree, not 5F or more.

“It’s an auspicious time in many ways for the public that climate change is here and now and dangerous. It’s not our grandchildren’s problem, it’s our problem. But it has also been a good learning time for climate scientists. “