It is all coming down faster than previously expected my friends. Heat records have fallen all over the world this week. Thirty three dead and counting in Montreal from extreme wet-bulb temperatures. Meanwhile, a blowtorch is blasting away at northern Siberia and the Laptev and East Siberian seas. (see story below the fold).
Yours truly came quite close to a heat stroke on Thursday, and just about blacked out in the scorching sun. I’m scared and so incredibly sad, I never expected to see this much change to the climate in my lifetime.
From the Washington Post.
A massive and intense heat dome has consumed the eastern two-thirds of the United States and southeast Canada since late last week. It’s not only been hot but also exceptionally humid. Here are some of the notable all-time records set:
Excessive heat torched the British Isles late last week. The stifling heat caused roads and roofs to buckle, the Weather Channel reported, and resulted in multiple record highs:
- Scotland provisionally set its hottest temperature on record. The U.K. Met Office reported Motherwell, about 12 miles southeast of Glasgow, hit 91.8 degrees (33.2 Celsius) on June 28, passing the previous record of (32.9 Celsius) set in August 2003 at Greycrook. Additionally, Glasgow had its hottest day on record, hitting 89.4 degrees (31.9 Celsius).
- In Ireland, on June 28, Shannonhit 89.6 degrees (32 Celsius), its record.
- In Northern Ireland,
- Belfasthit 85.1 degrees (29.5 Celsius) on June 28, its record.
- Castlederghit 86.2 degrees (30.1 Celsius) on June 29, its record
A large dome of high pressure, or heat dome, has persistently sat on top of Eurasia over the past week, resulting in some extraordinarily hot weather:
Extreme Heat Event (90-95 F) in Northern Siberia and the coastal Arctic Ocean This Week
I’ve looked over the European model and there appears to be general agreement over the intensity and timing of this extreme event. It is absolutely incredible and really one of the most intense heat events I’ve ever seen for so far north. Climate change has sent temps skyrocketing in the far north of the planet over just the past 20 years. While that’s been quite reflected in the rapid rise in wintertime temperatures, it’s increasingly being reflected in summertime temperatures as more and more sea ice disappears earlier in the season, leaving more dark blue ocean to absorb more daytime sunlight. This heating of the ocean surface by low albedo (very low reflectivity…little sunlight being reflected back off into space) causes some heat to be released back to heat the atmosphere above, speeding up warming of the Arctic region. This is known as Arctic Amplification. And one larger-scale hemispheric consequence being actively researched by Dr. Jennifer Francis (YouTube Video Presentation) and on others is that Arctic Amplification is causing an abrupt weakening of the polar jet stream (on timescales of just the past decade or two), the main feature which steers and intensifies weather patterns in the mid-latitudes. The weakening is causing the polar jet to become much wavier, with greater wave “breaks” and blocking patterns where waves sit in the same place for weeks promote extreme weather patterns (extreme cold relative to normal as well as extreme heat, very wet, and drought conditions).
2018 has unfortunately been a prime example of global warming’s effect on the jet stream. And northern Siberia has been getting blowtorched by heat that refuses to quit because of an ongoing blocked pattern favorable for intense heat.
This, in turn, has result in significant erosion of the sea ice in the Laptev Sea and warming of the waters into the mid-40s in the sea (around 43 F).
The world needs to get moving in order to soften the blow from abrupt climate change. The mid-terms are coming, we have to reclaim our leadership role, period. Be sure to vote like your life depends on it.