Parts of U.S. and Canada brace for potentially historic heat wave
The potential for a historic heat wave is building in much of western Canada and parts of the United States, a region that has been dealing with early, major wildfires enhanced by an ongoing drought. Its set to reach its peak Friday through early next week. The system is starting to gather around the Hudson Bay and will mostly affect a region from the Pacific Northwest to Alberta. The heat wave is set to reach its peak Friday and last through early next week. It was generated by extremely early-season high pressure. Parts of Canada that will be affected were touched by an exceptional heat wave two years ago, which brought the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country and devastating wildfires. Canada and the United States will not be the only places seeing extreme temperatures. Punishing heat persists in Asia, parts of Europe and much of the tropics. As the northern hemisphere trudges toward summer, major heat waves and significant wildfires have already become common in parts of the world, with more of the same likely to be ahead. A heat wave that looks like the historic June 2021 event is getting underway in parts of northern Canada. It will eventually spread to British Columbia and Alberta, as well as into the northern United States. Remarkable!! All areas in magenta indicate a record breaking mid-upper level (500mb) ridge by the weekend. This is an immense heat dome maxing out at 4.2 standard deviations (sigma) from the mean. A ridge magnitude on par with June 2021 pic.twitter.com/wobctbjjHR While the 2021 event toppled many all-time records in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canada, the configuration and powerful nature of this weeks event is similar. A zone of high pressure also called a heat dome is set to expand and become very intense into this weekend. The heat domes projected intensity would be near historic values in summer, let alone spring. Temperatures are likely to be shy of those extremes because the event is happening earlier in the year than in 2021. But temperatures reaching or breaking a range of 94 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit are still likely, putting peak temperatures between 18 to 36 degrees above normal. That this heat dome is coming just shy of two years after the last is exceptional. The 2021 event was deemed a one-in-a-thousand-year occurrence. Now, these type of events are forecast to occur in this region once every decade or even more often, wrote meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli. Extreme out-of-season heat has also been impacting much of southeast Asia and parts of Europe. In Asia, some spots have broken major records and then broken them again . Thailand, Vietnam and Laos are among places that have smashed all-time marks. The relentless barrage of unseasonable heat has been going on for much of the year and continues. Following the highest temperatures on record in Spain and the European continent in April, summertime heat is still simmering in the southern Iberian Peninsula and northern Africa, with temperatures around 104 degrees (40 Celsius). A historic heat wave in April across that region has since been characterized as almost impossible without climate change by World Weather Attribution, a group seeking to quickly identify how much a given weather event is influenced by ongoing warming. Much of the tropics have also been seeing scorching temperatures. Several locations in the Dominican Republic broke all-time May records close to 95 degrees (35 Celsius). Record and near-record temperatures around 104 degrees (40 Celsius) have also been observed in Central America . Major early-season fires are burning in Canada and Siberia , among other places. The Iberian Peninsula is also dealing with a historic drought and the fire threats. Intense wildfire activity in central Alberta, Canada on May 5 #ABfire #ABstorm pic.twitter.com/c7BbymG0b4 Canadas season got off to an explosive start when numerous lightning strikes sparked dry lands late last week. Mixed with strong winds, firestorms led to the evacuation of around 30,000 in several towns across Alberta. While gentler weather has helped firefighting efforts into midweek, it wont last. Much of Alberta is under moderate to severe drought conditions, according to the Canadian Drought Monitor . This follows a winter where the primary storm track was displaced south with its constant flow of atmospheric rivers into California. Meanwhile, thick smoke from Canadas wildfires has drifted into the Northeast United States, turning skies orange and making for stunning sunsets and sunrises. Dry conditions are ongoing in several parts of the hemisphere and acting as feedback to the heat. Drought that began in southern Spain in late 2022 has intensified recently, with some spots near the southern city of Cordoba which recently hit 101.8 degrees (38.8 Celsius) in a historic April heat wave are going on months with little to no rain. Reservoirs in the Catalonia region are near 25 percent, which has been described as having no precedent , and water restrictions are growing. Agricultural behemoths of the region, including olive oil harvesters, are watching and wondering if their livelihoods are on the brink of collapse. Its not the first bad season, with past years also featuring unusual heat and scorched crops. With the globe appearing on the precipice of a powerful El Nino , a warming of waters along the equatorial Pacific Ocean, it appears that warmth will continue going forward. El Ninos are known for delivering some of the warmest months and years on record, even without the impacts of climate change. As might be expected, the best long-range weather and climate modeling suggests much of the northern hemisphere running above average for temperatures through summer, and the rest of the year, with few if any cool spots to be found.