People in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia are suffering through an extremely hot weekend as temperatures in several areas are set to reach unprecedented levels Sunday and Monday. Things already got off to a chart-topping start on Saturday as Seattle reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the hottest June day on record. Other cities and towns are also going to be breaking records as temperatures in many areas will be as much as 30 degrees above normal, a dangerous situation for a region where many don’t even have air conditioning. “If you’re keeping a written list of the records that will fall, you might need a few pages by early next week,” National Weather Service Seattle tweeted on Friday.
The extreme heat wave is going to stick around the area for several days with little relief in an unusual weather pattern that is known as a “heat dome.” What exactly is a heat dome? It “is effectively what it sounds like,” explains National Geographic, “an area of high pressure that parks over a region like a lid on a pot, trapping heat.” This heat wave is particularly notable because it’s taking place so early in the summer and will be “one of the most extreme and prolonged heat waves” in the history of the Northwest, the National Weather Service in Spokane warned.
Seattle is expected to get over 100 degrees over the weekend and Portland could very well break its all-time record of 107. Farmers worried about the potential for crops to rot, stores sold out of fans and portable air conditioners and cities opened up cooling centers as officials warned people of the dangers of the extreme weather. “Heat at this level is something that will kill people and will get lethal very quickly,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon said.
Residents of the area better get used to it because this could be the new normal as extreme heat waves are likely to become more frequent due to climate change. “We know from evidence around the world that climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves. We’re going to have to get used to this going forward,” Kristie Ebi, a professor at the University of Washington who studies global warming, said. Experts say the region isn’t ready for such extreme heat, and few air conditioners is only part of the story. “Unfortunately we’re not well-prepared, generally speaking in the Pacific Northwest, for heat,” Vivek Shandas, a professor of climate adaptation and urban policy at Portland State University, told CNN. “Our [power] grids are largely taxed during the wintertime for heating purposes, but in the summer, there’s a lot less capacity in the grid to be able to actually manage some of the major drains on cooling infrastructure that’s needed.”
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June 27, 2021 at 06:51AM
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Pacific Northwest Scorches Under Heat Dome Set to Break Lots of Records - Slate
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