Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog

The heat is on

Posted by: Dr. Jeff Masters, 14:16 GMT le 22 juillet 2006

Record heat has gripped much of the U.S. this week. The heat is currently most intense in the Desert Southwest, where yesterday Phoenix recorded its fourth highest temperature of all time, 118 F. Needles, California hit a record 120 yesterday, and the temperature topped out at 123 F in Death Valley--only 13 degrees cooler than the world record 136 F measured in El Azizia, Libya, in 1922. The heat should continue for another week in the Southwest, before a shift in the jet stream pattern brings more normal temperatures to the region late next week.

The heat is on in Europe, too
Europe has seen its own record heat wave this week. Britain broke its all-time July temperature record, with a 98 F (36.5 C) temperature recorded at the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens at Wisley in Surrey. This bested the previous record for July, 36 C, set in Epsom in 1911. Belgium also recorded its hottest July day ever, 99 F (37 C) on July 19. Paris and Berlin both recorded 102 F (39 C) on July 20. However, the 2006 heat wave has caused far fewer deaths than the intense heat wave of 2003 that killed over 35,000 people. The 2006 heat wave has claimed 20 victims in France, 2 in Spain, and 4 in Germany and the Netherlands. Much of the reduced death toll can be credited to better preparation learned from the 2003 heat wave.

The heat, combined with drought, has reduced the amount of cooling water available to cool the nuclear reactors in Germany and France, forcing those plants to cut back on electricity production. In Italy, hydroelectric power generation has been reduced due to the drought.

Warmest January through June ever in U.S.
The National Climatic Data Center reports that the June 2006 was the 2nd warmest June on record, and the first half of 2006 was the warmest in the United States since record keeping began in 1895. The average temperature for the 48 contiguous United States from January through June was 51.8�F, or 3.4�F above average for the 20th century. Globally, June was also the 2nd warmest June on record, and the period January through June was the 6th warmest such period on record.

Watching the tropics
There are no areas of disturbed weather to talk about the tropical Atlantic today, and none of the computer models are forecasting any development for the coming week.

The main action this week will be in the Eastern Pacific, where we have my favorite type of hurricane--a huge, spectacular Category 4 (almost 5) storm that is no threat to land. Daniel joins May's Typhoon Chanchu as the only Category 4/5 tropical cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere so far this year. Daniel could threaten Hawaii late next week, but the storm will probably be a weak tropical storm by that point, due to passage over cooler waters.

Latest satellite image of Hurricane Daniel

Jeff Masters

120 degrees (Westerberg)

But it's a dry heat. I'm sure it's going to get a couple degrees warmer today but I could not hang around any longer.

Categories: Heat

Permalink | A A A

Top of Page

Reader Comments

Display: 0, 50, 100, 200

Sort: Newest First - Order Posted

Viewing: 401 - 404

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 — Blog Index

401. StormJunkie 15:13 GMT le 23 juillet 2006
Morning LF. Remember that previous year maps in my blog are set to a forward dat of Aug 1. That being said, my main point was that the waters of the E coast and N Gulf are warmer then last year on Aug 1. I agree that much of the E Atl is cooler. I don't agree that most of our systems last year came off of West Africa though. Some of them came off as week waves and strugled until they got to the Carib, butmany of them generated much further W then the Africa coast. Member Since: 17 août 2005 Posts: 26 Comments: 15218

402. SAINTHURRIFAN 15:15 GMT le 23 juillet 2006
turtletop or storm turtle tell me its not so lol by the way no one thought much on the history lesson i gave on earl those boc systems can have multiple center shifts but bob and turtle top lol i did not see mayfieldsboys have a developed system here i know they are notorious for slow reaction but listening to this blog i thought camille had just been ressurected lol Member Since: 20 août 2005 Posts: 5 Comments: 668

403. StormJunkie 15:15 GMT le 23 juillet 2006
New Dr M blog is up. Member Since: 17 août 2005 Posts: 26 Comments: 15218

404. Cavin Rawlins 15:16 GMT le 23 juillet 2006
Posted By: Tazmanian at 11:12 AM AST on July 23, 2006. so it is ovre the bay now in the water? yep, it has been there for a good while now. Member Since: 24 juillet 2005 Posts: 407 Comments: 19076

Viewing: 401 - 404

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 — Blog Index

Top of Page

New Comment

Community Standards Policy Comments will take a few seconds to appear.

Post Your Comments

Please sign in to post comments.

or Join

Not only will you be able to leave comments on this blog, but you'll also have the ability to upload and share your photos in our Wunder Photos section.

About JeffMasters