The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary 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).😉
Main Topic: Watching Heat Wave Epsilon Day Seven…Extreme Heat To Peak In the South Today and Friday
Dear Diary. As expected, our CAT3 heatwave will be peaking today and Friday across the southern Plains and South. My home town of Atlanta should have its hottest day of the year in the upper 90s with a heat index above 105. My city should get close to the daily record of 99°F on Friday. While dangerous, Epsilon won’t be historic like Pacific Northwest CAT5 Gamma, which killed about 1,000 people and sent Seattle to an all-time max of 107°F and seat Canada’s all-time max of 121°F at Lytton in British Columbia.
Here was the state of National Service Advisories as of Thursday morning:
Heat advisories and watches have expanded in the South eastward into Georgia. Let’s not forget about the West. The heat dome is so expansive that it is affecting portions of the Pacific Northwest where more advisories are posted. Advisories have been trimmed out of the Upper Midwest due to the passage of a front but at a price. Indeed a derecho did move through Wisconsin into Indiana producing significant wind damage and leaving thousands without power. That’s another danger in our overheated world…when the heat breaks more powerful storms can erupt in the transition from near record heat to some cooler relief.
As far as the verification of the apex of the heat dome in association with Epsilon goes, the system peaked at near 597 decameters over central Kansas:
While strong, I’ve seen a lot stronger during my career. Also, the heat dome in association with Epsilon will collapse in a few days due to a digging eastern trough. That mechanism is hot short duration heat waves typically end east of the Rockies:
Here are forecast national maxes for the next three days:
Notice that even on Saturday there will be dangerous, near record levels of heat remaining in the Southeast. While not at record levels, we will continue to see dangerous heat in Oklahoma and Texas.
Further notes on Epsilon:
Here is today’s featured climate crisis related item:
Here are some “ET’s” reported from Wednesday and Thursday:
Here is more climate and weather news from Thursday:
(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. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”