Summer Heat Diary… July 7-8, 2017

Saturday July 8th… 

Dear diary. Here are my evening updates.

These were today’s national highs:

Notice that Salt Lake City in the heart of our western ridge reached 104F.

It was oppressive along the coast of southern California where some stations reported dew points above 70:

Wow! Downtown Los Angeles broke a record that was set in 1886 by three degrees:

In the central valley of California some records were tied:

I’ll add more data as it comes in tonight.

The Climate Guy

Dear diary. Meteorology models have been consistent in the overall scenario across the U.S. for the next two weeks. The third U.S. heat wave of this season will move into the Plains and Midwest next week. At the same time there will be some moderation of temperatures in the West, however readings will remain at dangerous levels. The western heatwave will reintensify the following week as the upper ridge begins to retrograde back towards the Rockies. Anyway you slice this scenario, it means that very hot, above average temperatures are in store for the U.S. during the middle of July… what typically is the hottest time of the year.

This is the 500 Mb pattern from the most reliable model, the European model valid on Sunday the 16th (00z the 17th):

By July 16th the East and Southeast should get yet another break from extreme heat.

In the meantime here are the forecast maxes for Sunday the 9th. Notice that maxes don’t exceed 110 at Las Vegas and Phoenix since the upper ridge will be diminishing in the West. At the same time the Plains will be heating up since the ridge will be in the process of shifting East.

The hot, dry weather in the West has unfortunately been aiding fire development. This Goes satellite photo from Rob Livingston shows where two bad forest fires are in California.

I did see one item strongly related to climate change outside of the U.S. Miami, FL has had a very hot year related to very warm (and warming due to carbon pollution) surrounding Gulf and Atlantic waters. That city is racking up an unprecedented streak of days in which the thermometer hasn’t fallen below 80. This streak is now up to 22 days:

I’ll add to this post once significant records get recorded later today.

The Climate Guy

______________________

Friday July 7th… 

Evening updates. Wow! Some of today’s records being set blow me away. Just check out what happened at Phoenix:

Phoenix’s old record was 115F first set in 1905.

At Vegas it was extremely hot all day long. How ’bout a reading of 100F at 8AM according to MDA Weather Services, which was just one degree shy of its warmest reading at 8AM since 1948:

Let’s also mention Idaho for a change. Yep, 102 was definitely hot at Boise:

And at and around Los Angeles there was plenty of record heat:

Here are the rest of today’s maxes from major reporting stations:

The Climate Guy

Dear diary. The consensus of model guidance now indicates that our strong, pesky upper ridge in the West will temporarily shift eastward in about a week allowing for a break in extreme heat and more typical monsoon storms to develop. Good news in the West will mean bad news for the Plains and East as some dangerous heat will move into areas that have not been affected by this third heatwave. We should see this upper air pattern by the middle of July:

The GFS is forecasting extreme warmth to move into the Midwest ahead of a cold front on Wednesday the 12th:

In the meantime our western heatwave remains intense. Here are the forecast maxes for Saturday the 8th:

Speaking of the West, it’s no surprise that it was hottest across that area of the country during June according to the National Center for environmental information:

June 2017 was the 20th warmest June for the lower 48 states since 1895…much warmer than average.  It would not surprise me that many states in the West will end up with their warmest summer on record when all is said and done by September. Our first heat wave in June was responsible for the above average swath of states in the Northeast, and the second, more significant, heat wave produced much above average temperatures in the Southwest.

I’ll be adding to this post with updates later today.

To see all 2017 heat diary entries click:

https://guyonclimate.com/category/heatdiary2017/

The Climate Guy

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