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: Heatwave Hess to Bake the Nation through the Rest of August.
Dear Diary. Like a visiting relative that won’t leave, Heatwave Hess has extended its stay across the south-central U.S. This summer there have been only three named major heatwaves, but they have been very long lasting during a season in which the U.S. has experienced a well above average temperature summer overall. In my system the worst-case scenario would be one named CAT4/5 historic heatwave that starts in May and goes through September with no breaks from cold fronts. Thank goodness our climate isn’t so broken that we are experiencing that scenario. Through mitigation let’s keep it that way.
As many of my readers know, I name major heatwaves for oil companies, which are to blame for exacerbating these ready weather systems. To recap we have had historic CAT4 heatwaves Exxon, Gazprom and major CAT3 Heatwave Hess. Heatwave Hess started in late July, which I blogged on here:
As of today, here is the extent of Heatwave Hess’s heat dome:
A strong 596 decameter ridge is centered over the West Texas where daily records were set every day last week. Here is an example:
Here are the current advisories in association with Hess:
By my criteria we have an upper end CAT3 looking at the extent of National Weather Service warnings and advisories and the number of records being tied or set.
A strong cold trough by August standards is digging through the East. This system will cool the Southeast east of Oklahoma and Texas this week, so states east of there will get a nice break from Hess. However, the trough will moderate by the end of this week allowing Hess to expand north and eastward yet again:
In fact, Hess’s heat dome may approach 600 decameters across west Texas by Saturday, so the system may move into historic CAT4 territory, potentially setting some all-time records. We will see. Regardless of that, folks in Oklahoma and Texas will not see much relief where there might be some health issues. It’s no wonder that we are seeing outlooks like this one from Pivotal Weather:
At least the Far West will see a break from anomalous heat, so firefighters can catch a big break there.
Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is More Climate News from Sunday:
(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.)