Wednesday July 3rd… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Focus On Current Alaskan Heat Wave
The current Alaskan heat wave relative to last week’s shorter European heat wave has been with us for a very long time. The heat dome over that state has shown remarkable persistence from the spring into the early summer and will only intensify this week, peaking on Friday. Here is what we see from 500 millibar charts valid for Friday over North America from the new and improved GFS model:
The above Pivotal chart is startling since there are above average heights for just about all of the continent. What stands out, though, is the 585+ decameter ridge over Alaska depicted with much above average orange shades. While not unprecedented, a heat dome over Alaska of that strength this time of the year should lead to some all-time records which I’ll report.
What’s very alarming is what is happening to the Arctic in around and around Alaska. We know now that what starts in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic.
Leading up to this week here are some notes from experts, including those from Rick Thoman and Brian Brettschneider, two of Alaska’s well respected climatologists:
What I will do is add more notes below as more information crosses my radar on Alaskan heat at least through Sunday on this post. I pray that any fires won’t become devastating around populated areas, not to mention across pristine forested areas of this beautiful state through the rest of this very hot summer.
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Here is more climate and weather news from Wednesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article.)
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Guy Walton- “The Climate Guy”