Welcome To The Heat Dome

Learn a New Climate Change Phrase: 'Heat Dome'; As the Southwest faces scorching temperatures, this phrase is dominating weather discussions.

Jessie Guy-Ryan, June 18, 2016 (Atlas Obscura)

“…[Behind skyrocketing temperatures prompting the National Weather Service’s Excessive Heat Warning is an] increasingly common meteorological phenomenon…[Heat domes] are created when a high-pressure system forms in the mid- to upper-atmosphere; the air pressure pushes warm air down towards the surface and traps it there, resulting in higher — often much higher — than normal temperatures…[Heat bubble] better describes the shape…[I]t’s difficult to understate the extremity of a heat dome’s effects; last year, a heat dome over the Middle East resulted in a heat index of 165º — the second-highest heat index ever recorded anywhere — in Iran…

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"This weekend’s heat dome has the potential for similar record-shattering effects [because its height is] well outside the normal climate range…As with many other extreme weather events around the world, climate change may be making heat domes more common…[ Meteorologist Ryan Maue examined climate data going back to 1953, concluded that heat domes are getting both more frequent and more extreme, and] believes the overall rise in global temperatures due to climate change has created an environment more conducive to extreme weather, including heat domes…In 2013, National Climatic Data Center scientist Jake Crouch made a similar assertion…” click here for more

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