Record Breaking Heat

[Illyria]

Western U.S. Awaits a Break From Record-Setting Heat


July 21 (Bloomberg) -- The western U.S. is awaiting relief in the next couple of days from a heat wave that has set records throughout the region.

``We've had at least 200 daily record temperatures set over the last eight or nine days, and that's just an estimate,'' said Craig Schmidt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. ``We're going to start moderating pretty much starting today.''

Many places in such states as Arizona, southern California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico have reported temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) in the heat wave, which has been going on for 10 to 12 days. Las Vegas tied its all-time record of 117 degrees on July 19.

Denver, while a mile high in the Rocky Mountains, hit 105 degrees yesterday, tying a record set in 1878, the Denver Post reported. The highest temperature in the heat wave was 129 at Death Valley, California, Schmidt said. It wasn't a record for Death Valley, where the highest-ever reading is 134.

Power companies reported record demand. From July 12 to July 18, Sierra Pacific Resources, which supplies power to parts of Nevada and California, set four records, peaking in demand of 1,744 megawatts on July 18, spokeswoman Faye Andersen said.

Too Hot to Fly

Airlines canceled flights or lightened passenger loads because the hot air wasn't dense enough to support takeoff. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines canceled seven flights in Denver yesterday because of the heat, spokesman Jeff Green said.

``It's rare that we have to take these types of cancellations out of our Denver hub,'' Green said. Flights affected were on smaller aircraft flying into mountain towns, he said.

Mesa Air Group Inc., which flies regional jets as America West Express out of Las Vegas, canceled 11 flights from that city each day on July 18 and 19, spokeswoman Linda Larsen said.

At high temperatures, ``the air entering the engine becomes less dense, so the engine must intake a larger volume of air to attain the same output,'' Larsen said. At certain temperatures and altitudes aircraft can get beyond their operating capabilities, requiring less weight or cancellation, she said.

The heat hasn't brought a rash of wildfires, though the National Interagency Fire Center has issued a red flag warning for northern and central Nevada for lightning.

Long-Range Forecast

The West may have to put up with higher temperatures for several more months, with scorching heat predicted for the desert Southwest, government forecasters said in a report today.

Higher-than-average temperatures will stretch from the Pacific coast of Washington to El Paso in west Texas, encasing the Rocky Mountain region, with the worst heat in a pocket of the Southwest that includes western Arizona, parts of eastern California and southern Nevada, from August through October, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said.

The forecasters also predicted above-normal temperatures in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia through the period, as well as a small swath of southern Florida.

A strong ridge of high pressure that camped over the Southwest accounts for the heat, Schmidt said. Some tropical moisture is beginning to seep northward, which should bring lower temperatures, he said. The remnants of Hurricane Emily, which crossed into Mexico yesterday from the Gulf, should contribute to the cooling, he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=&sid=aA_TXAk6LxKM

Related:

18 dead in Phoenix (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072100239_pf.html)

Records broken in Wyoming (http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/07/20/news/wyoming/bf5e7311a30796d0872570420058243d.txt)

*******************

Is it hot where you live, hotter than "normal" summer time blues?

I don't live in the Western US..but it is waaay above normal here, the kind of hot you can barely get your trash out on time :) I don't want to even talk or walk.

[nightcat]

Here in Salt Lake City it's been 100+ Farenheit since about the 6th of July. We've had a 105, a 106 and lots of 101 - 102s. Normal July highest temps would be between 88 and 91 F..


I'm not a great fan of heat - I'm a cool weather kind of cat.

[nightcat]

I don't live in the Western US..but it is waaay above normal here, the kind of hot you can barely get your trash out on time :) I don't want to even talk or walk.

Illy, I thought you lived in California??

Maybe I'm just crazy from the heat...

[Aquarius]

Art's Quickening in in full force, the temps have been in the high eighties to high nineties since the end of May with very little rain, summers can be hot here but not everyday like it is now. In August it is not unusual to have temps over a hundred. The humidity is unusually high here also, we don't normally suffer with high humidity like Ohio, Illinois and Indiana does.

[Jeen0]

Yep, we're expecting another scorcher (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ifps/MapClick.php?CityName=Springfield&state=MO&site=sgf) here too. Thankfully we just had our AC fixed last week. Replaced some lines and the excnange coils..kicks ass now. Brr..

[Illyria]

Illy, I thought you lived in California??

Maybe I'm just crazy from the heat...


I leave on the East Coast.. :)

And it's very humid, more than normal, and did I mention hot?

[nightcat]

I leave on the East Coast.. :)

And it's very humid, more than normal, and did I mention hot?


Through this heatwave, I've been grateful that we're in a desert and NOT a humid zone. But today there's unnaturally high humidity. Which is weird for the arid climes of Utah - this is a place where, typically, bread goes hard and dry in two days if you don't eat it. But today we've got the humiditity AND the 105. So, I feel ya!

Man, I pity the folks here who have evaporative (swamp) coolers instead of a/c!

[SETIsLady]

Think cold :)

[Project]

It has been ridiculous here all month... all summer... regularly going over 40C with the humidex... every day.

[Sean]

It has been ridiculous here all month... all summer... regularly going over 40C with the humidex... every day.

I agree. When alls said and done it will probably be one of the hottest summer's on record.

[Aquarius]

I woke up this morning to thunder storms, about time we had some rain as it is needed badly, just hope the storms are not too severe and the streets do not flood. Feels cooler at the moment but once it stops it well be hot and humid again.

I agree that this may very well be the hottest summer on record, they have been breaking in many areas of the country already.

[Captain Beyond]

Whew,it's too hot here!Been trying to catch up on mowing my big lawn and all the trimming.I been sweating like an accused whore on the front row of a Baptist revival meeting! :yup:

[Illyria]

Record-breaking heat to continue....




Today, the California ISO, which operates the energy grid serving California and the west, is asking all Californians to reduce energy usage to avoid interruptions in service. The ISO is asking consumers to set thermostats at 78 degrees or higher. The highest demand for power is expected at about 4 p.m.

"This whole year seems a little more extreme, in terms of the weather," Ramiro Olvera of Indio said Wednesday while escaping the heat by eating a cheeseburger at In-N-Out Burger. "The winter was colder than usual. The rainy season was rainier. And the summer is hotter

LINK (http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20050714&Category=NEWS09&ArtNo=507140331&SectionCat=&Template=printart)



TIPS FOR STAYING COOL WHEN IT'S HOT

Avoid strenuous outdoor activity from about 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Avoid the outdoors if at all possible.
Wear light, loose-fitting clothing.
Wear a hat.
Drink plenty of water.
Hikers should carry at least a gallon of water per person.
Power tips

Set thermostat at 78 degrees or higher.
Cool with fans.
Draw the drapes.
Turn off unnecessary lights and appliances.
Use big appliances in early morning or late at night.

[Illyria]

Heat Advisory


Hot... hazy and humid conditions are expected over the region
through mid week. The hot temperatures combined with high
humidities have created heat indices around 100 degrees this
afternoon. Even hotter conditions are expected on Tuesday. In the
District of Columbia... heat index values in excess of 80 degrees
are expected Tuesday night.

It is possible that the heat advisory will need to be upgraded to
an excessive heat warning on Tuesday... especially for Washington
DC. Heat advisory conditions are expected to continue on
Wednesday.

A heat advisory means that the combination of high temperatures
and humidity will combine to create a situation in which heat
injuries are possible. Drink plenty of fluids... stay out of the
sun and check up on relatives and neighbors.

Do not keep children or pets in cars with windows rolled up...
even partially. Temperatures inside a car with windows up can
reach over 150 degrees quickly... resulting in heat stroke and
death.

http://weather.marylandweather.com/US/MD/Baltimore.html#HEA

The last summer I remember that was this hot was about 96'. I was working at a seafood "Crab House" and even the seagulls on the water, didn't want to fly.

[Illyria]

Heat Wave Continues Across Midwest...


CHICAGO -- It will be another day of oppressive heat Monday from Louisiana to Illinois and east to the mid-Atlantic.

Chicago city workers fanned out across the city Sunday to check on the elderly and shuttle people to cooling centers as the thermometer hit 104 degrees, just one degree short of the city's all-time record high.

The searing heat prompted city officials to implement an emergency plan crafted in response to the deaths of 700 people during a heat wave 10 years ago.

An automated calling system began contacting 40,000 elderly residents at 9 a.m. to inform them about the heat.

The temperature at Chicago's Midway Airport reached 104 degrees by mid-afternoon Sunday. That's just one degree lower than the highest temperature ever recorded in the city.

And Chicago is far from alone. It hit 102 degrees in St. Louis and 101 in Iowa City, Iowa.

http://www.nbc6.net/news/4764453/detail.html

[maryals]

This is insane, just insane! It's the CME's that the Sun keeps spitting at us, in record intensities, that are warming the atmosphere.
It is a tad warmer than usual here in Alaska. We've had to endure some days of 70+ degrees. And we are getting more thunderstorms here, in the Anchorage area, than EVER before.
Our Climate has just gone mad just as The Hopi Elders warned.

MaryLice

[Illyria]

Heat Spreads Suffering, Midwest to East...

-- A large swath of the U.S. suffered through another miserable day of sizzling temperatures and high humidity Monday _ a deadly heat wave that had people cranking up air conditioners, scrambling to cooling shelters and running through sprinklers in the park.

Temperatures soared past 100 in several cities, and the National Weather Service posted excessive heat warnings and advisories from Illinois to Louisiana and from Nebraska to the District of Columbia.

"It feels like basically just walking around in an oven," said 20-year-old McDarren Paschal as he mowed grass at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

The blistering heat has caused numerous deaths this summer. In the Phoenix area alone, 24 people, most of them homeless, have died.

City workers in Chicago checked on elderly residents and shuttled people to cooling centers Monday, hoping to avoid a repeat of a disastrous 1995 heat wave that killed 700 people. Wilmington, Del., set up sprinklers in city parks so people could run through the spray to cool off. A social service agency in Oklahoma City handed out fans to elderly people who didn't have air conditioning.

Sherri Ball went to a cooling center in Peoria, Ill., because her window air conditioner couldn't keep up with the heat, a day after the mercury topped 100 degrees in the central Illinois city for the first time in a decade.

"It's hot and I can't breathe when it's real hot outside," said the 46-year-old Ball.

At least three deaths have been blamed on the heat in Missouri this summer, and authorities were looking into the death of a woman found Sunday in a home without air conditioning. Four people have died of the heat in Oklahoma, two of them young children left in cars, and at least three heat deaths have been tallied in New Jersey.

Some 200 cities in the West hit daily record highs last week, including Las Vegas, Nev., at 117, and Death Valley soared to 129, the weather service said.

A break in the heat was on the way, at least for the Midwest.

A cold front brought rain Monday to parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and was on its way to crossing Illinois, Missouri and Indiana on Tuesday, said Ed Shimmon, a weather service meteorologist in Lincoln, Ill. He said rainfall will likely be scattered, but still welcome in the drought-stricken region.

Demand for electricity to run air conditioners has hit near-record peaks from Southern California to the region served by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The load on generators caused a power outage in St. Louis County, Mo., where more than 900 customers were still without electricity Monday.

The heat was hardest on people who have to work outside.

"I try not to think about it," said Beatrice Gonzales, running a hot dog stand in Baltimore as the temperature neared 90.

"I guess you can never really get used to the heat, but you get tolerant of it," construction worker Lee Tate said in Jackson, Miss., where the mercury hit the mid 90s before noon Monday.

Fans pumped cool air Monday at the Vanderburgh County fair grounds in Evansville, Ind., but it was directed at the livestock, from rabbits and ducks to llamas and pigs. In Ohio, dog owners cooled pets with ice packs at a county fair competition.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/25/AR2005072500238_pf.html

[Illyria]

I keep posting gthis stuff, because I can not believe that across the board, it's above average hot.. It seems "odd" to me.

Another Scorcher for the Eastern U.S.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - As a large swath of the United States suffered through another miserably hot day, several western states and parts of the Midwest began to feel the relief of a cold front pushing out what had been days of triple-digit temperatures.

But for the East, the cooler temperatures weren't expected to arrive until Thursday.

A blistering heat wave gave Philadelphia summer school students the equivalent of a snow day Tuesday as temperatures climbed into the upper 90s and so many homeowners cranked up their air conditioners that their power grid set a record.

That likely means another early dismissal Wednesday for Philadelphia students stuck in summer school classrooms, many without air conditioning, officials said.

The demand for cooling was evident at PJM Interconnection LLC, which coordinates the movement of electricity between 13 states ranging from Illinois to North Carolina. The power grid reported setting a record Tuesday with a peak load of 135,000 megawatts - enough to power 108 million homes under normal conditions.

"It was 120 (degrees) in the direct sunlight," said Walt Arrison, a surveyor at the construction site who kept a small key chain thermometer in his pocket.

Already the heat has been blamed for deaths across the country, including 28 in the Phoenix area alone, most of them homeless people.

At least four deaths have been blamed on the heat in Missouri, including a woman found Sunday in a home without air conditioning. Two young children left in hot cars died in Oklahoma. A 29-year-old hiker died Monday in Kentucky. And a 48-year-old woman was found dead Tuesday in her non-air-conditioned apartment in Cincinnati.

Oppressive heat also posed health risks for animals. Heat is being blamed for at least 1,200 cattle deaths in Nebraska

At the Louisville Zoo, caretakers were creating shade and putting large chunks of ice out for the animals to lick, said Zoo Media Development Coordinator Diana DeVaughn.

"The other animals outside are relatively used to the heat," DeVaughn said. "The elephants can completely submerge. The polar bears have water that's cooled down to 55 degrees. If they're hot, they can go swim. It's 9 feet deep."

Most humans weren't so lucky.

UPS delivery man Bryan Thompson, 37, of Baltimore, said he wasn't bother to monitor the weather forecasts because there's not much he can do about it.

"I don't need to know the heat index, the humidity and all that," he said. "I just know it's going to be hot."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050727/D8BJNKOGD.html

Yesterday in a town next to me , the power grid was out, and a lot of people were without electricity. Daycares were closing due to the heat.