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).😜
Here is a new feature for this blog, which I will add daily. This is the latest inciteful Green News Report from my friends Desi Doyen and Brad Friedman at Progressive Voices. Hit ‘continue reading,’ listen, then hit return to see my daily topics:
Main Topic: Rules for Naming U.S. Heatwaves After Oil Companies For 2026
Dear Diary. As far as excessive heat goes, it has already been eventful across the U.S. this year. March 2026 was the most anomalously hot month in U.S. history at +9.38°F above average for the lower 48 states. It’s no wonder due to an exceptional heatwave I had to dub Artex that built over the Southwest then spread eastward for much of the month. It was so historic in nature that I had to peg it as a CAT4 even though according to my 2025 rules it would not be a CAT4 because it probably did not kill 500-1000 people. I’m making one exception to the 2025 rules in that if an early or late season heatwave is truly historic by setting an extensive list of monthly records, then it could be pegged as a historic CAT4 instead of a major CAT3.
Already we have a CAT2 heatwave across portions of the Southwest:
Let’s break down the criteria that will be used this year.
First we need to list oil company names that will be used during 2026. Since 2023 I’ve been naming heat waves after oil companies to highlight how their drilling activities have exacerbated U.S. heatwaves. It is shameful how oil companies have been allowed to continue selling oil products, which not only pollute but warm our atmosphere, thus breaking our climate. If they and their customers, the auto industry, can’t police themselves to transition into green companies, then big government must step in as the police. Of course, under Trump the opposite is happening.
So, without further ado, here are the rules for 2026:
- Artex for Artex Oil Company of Ohio
- Bluestone for Bluestone Natural Resources of Oklahoma
- Cabot for Cabot Oil and Gas Co. of Pennsylvania
- Canaco for Canaco Phillips Oil. Company
- Koch
- Delphi for Delphi Energy
- Frontera for Frontera Energy
- Gaastra for Gaastra Exploration Inc.Goodrich for Goodrich Patroeum Co. based out of Louisia
During 2023 we used the names Amoco through Dana.
(from: List of oil exploration and production companies – Wikipedia):
During 2024 we used the names Exxon through Laredo, so we will start off with Heatwave Marathon this hot season.
During 2025 we used the names Occidental through Shell.
The year 2023 was the first year that oil company names were used to name heatwaves by yours truly:
Meteorologist Names 2023 U.S. Heat Waves After Oil, Gas Companies: Amoco, BP, Chevron (forbes.com)
My criteria and ranking system has not changed much from 2025 to 2026. The biggest change is in association with areal size. A heatwave doesn’t necessarily need to exist over a wide area to be classified as a major CAT 3 heatwave. Again though, if my readers can come up with better suggestions, I’m more than glad to improve this criteria:
Across the United States, if we have the most extreme situation the next major heatwave on the list, Heatwave Bluestone, could last all season with the country not catching any break.
Let’s initially try to define heat wave severity and intensity on a day-to-day basis. My parameters from today are fairly rough around the edges and somewhat subjective, but if there is enough discussion and consensus within the meteorological community perhaps in time harder definitions based on sounder science can come to fruition.
Obviously, I’m naming heatwaves to highlight this worsening climate problem and perhaps save lives by getting the public to focus on this weather threat. This year like from I’m naming major heatwaves after oil companies to shame them in the process and to identify culprits that are exacerbating these deadly systems.
Mirroring the Saffir-Simpson scale, let’s define a weak or low-level category one heat wave as a fairly minor nuisance that can be dealt with using proper precautions. A CAT5 would be one that is truly deadly, in which you would not want to leave a location with air conditioning to go outside under any circumstances for no more than a few minutes. What I will do here is roughly define this 1-5 scale and give examples using 500 millibar charts.
1) CAT 1: Low level heat wave. Occurs when temperatures and humidity get hot enough to threaten the health of susceptible people. Heat advisories from the National Weather Service will be in place with perhaps a small area of heat warnings. Temperatures don’t necessarily have to get as hot as record levels, but humidity levels must be sufficient to produce a heat index above 95°F.
The typical early July weather we saw on 7/2/2020 across the south-central U.S. was spot on for a CAT 1 heat wave. Here are current heat advisories posted for that heat episode:
During this summer (or as long as heat advisories are posted for a portion of the United States) when relevant I will post the above NWS graphic describing the severity of our ongoing heat wave on a scale of 1-5 before I get into the main topic of the day.
At 500 millibars here is what we saw from 7/2/2020, which would be typical for my CAT 1 heat wave definition:
2) CAT 2: Medium level heat wave in which areas have been subjected to temperatures and humidity sufficient to produce NWS heat advisories and warnings for at least three consecutive days. Temperatures may get close to record levels for a couple of days.
Here is a heat dome that would be typical for a CAT2:
3) CAT 3: A major level heatwave severe enough such that a few fatalities are reported. A city in a CAT 3 heat wave would be under a heat emergency for a few days. Many heat records would be either tied or broken.
A CAT3 or higher heatwave would be considered to be a major heatwave and would get a fossil fuel corporation name. If two heat domes merge, the remaining heatwave would get the name of the most recently named system with the prior named system from my list being retired.
Indeed, a CAT 2 heat wave will grow into a CAT 3 system if we see a 500 millibar ridge enveloping much of the Plains or elsewhere like so:
4) CAT 4: High level heat wave severe enough to produce over 500 deaths to susceptible people such that it becomes historic enough to get catalogued by entities such as Wikipedia. This type of heatwave does not necessarily need to produce many all-time or monthly records. The longevity of a CAT4 heatwave would be enough to be a big killer. The city of Chicago had one of these back in 1995. Read about that here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Chicago_heat_wave
Such a heatwave would require a stable ridge at 500 millibars with heights more than likely greater than 594 decameters that would last for days and not move much:
5) CAT 5. Catastrophic heat wave. Many all-time temperature records would be shattered with thousands of deaths reported. Remember the European heat wave of 2003 in which there were well in excess of 10,000 fatalities? This event would certainly fit my CAT 5 category.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
| Type | Heat wave |
|---|---|
| Areas | Europe |
| Start date | July 2003 |
| End date | August 2003 |
| Losses | |
| Deaths | 72,000Italy: ~20,000France: 14,802-19,000Spain: 12,963Germany: ~9500United Kingdom: ~2,000Portugal: 1,953Netherlands: ~1,500 |
A heatwave will end once we can no longer see it’s associated contoured 500 millibar heat dome on charts and/or anomalous warmth at the surface dissipates.
I welcome any constructive critiques for this heat wave scale. Am looking forward to any reader comments.
Here are some “ETs” recorded from around the U.S. 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 Monday:
(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.)