U.S. warmth dome expands west
Two of my favourite sources for climate data within the U.S. are Accuweather and the Capital Weather Gang on the Washington Post. Both are reporting this week on the warmth dome that’s build up now, as a consequence of convey exceptionally excessive temperatures to a lot of the nation, significantly Texas (the place I reside, and the place EarthSky is predicated) and the U.S. Southwest. Matthew Cappucci of the Capital Weather Gang reported on July 5, 2022:
The climate sample from late May to late June was dominated by a relentless warmth dome that introduced document temperatures all over the place besides the northwest and northeast of the United States. After a little bit of a pause, the warmth dome is again. It’s settling over the Midwest and Plains and is forecast to step by step shift westward in coming days.
The warmth dome might linger within the Southwest for properly over per week, which means a protracted interval of above-normal midsummer temperatures from Texas, which skilled widespread document warmth in June, by means of Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Alex Sosnowski, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather, wrote on July 7:
A big dome of scorching air, answerable for many days of utmost temperatures, will broaden westward from the southern Plains to a lot of the Western United States later this week … The excessive warmth was produced by the persistence of a giant northward bulge within the jet stream. When mixed with a scarcity of rain, there have been a considerable variety of days and areas with highs of 100 levels Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) or better to date this yr.
While the continuing and upcoming warmth from the south-central to the southwestern United States could appear typical for July, temperatures will probably be 5-10 levels above common for many areas by means of subsequent week.
The warmth doesn’t appear typical to me, for early July, for Texas, the place I’ve lived for all of my 71 years. Here in Austin, we had 21 days over 100 F in June. It’s been a brutal summer season to date. And we hope that our electrical grid received’t fail us again, because it did for some days, throughout an excessive chilly snap in 2021.
If it does … it’s going to be dangerous. And we’ve an extended summer season but to go.
I’m no skilled on climate. So it’s best to click on over and browse Accuweather’s article, or the Capital Weather Gang’s article, in order for you extra particulars.
Cities in Europe are scorching, too
And it’s not simply U.S. cities which might be below strain from the warmth. The European Space Agency mentioned on July 6, 2022, that air temperatures are a lot above the typical in components of Europe and Asia, too. ESA reported:
June 2022 [went] down as a document breaker. The worry is that these excessive early-season heatwaves are a style of what might quickly be the norm as climate change continues to take maintain. For these in cities, the warmth dissipates slower creating ‘urban heat islands’, which make on a regular basis life much more of a wrestle.
ESA mentioned that the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the International Space Station – owned by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – is vital to Europe’s remote sensing neighborhood. It’s serving to them develop a brand new Copernicus Sentinel satellite: the Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) mission. ESA mentioned it’s utilizing ECOSTRESS to simulate the information that’ll finally be returned by LSTM. In flip, the LSTM information will present systematic measurements of the temperature of the land floor. And, ESA said, that guarantees:
… to be a game-changer for city planners and farmers, for instance.
Bottom line: It’s been a brutal summer season already for some components of the U.S. In early July 2022, a warmth dome is settling over the U.S. Midwest and Plains.
Via Accuweather on July 7: Hottest weather of the year on tap for Vegas, Dallas and OKC
