Texas is making national headlines for its climate change-related extreme weather again, this time for a heat dome that traps warm temperatures over the area. The Lone Star State is in the middle of a severe summer heat wave.
Over a dozen Texas towns set record high temperatures on Sunday. The National Weather Service described the conditions as oppressive and dangerous. The temperature in San Antonio is expected to reach 104 degrees on Wednesday, while Houston is predicted to hit a high of 98 degrees.
News accounts usually describe the event as a heat dome that settles over the state. In reference to the record-breaking weeklong heat wave that caused hundreds of deaths in the Pacific Northwest, the same term was used.
Most Americans have only recently become aware of the phenomenon of heat domes. Climate change will make them more common in weather reports.
A heat dome is a type of heat wave that has become more common in the last few years. A heat dome occurs when strong, high-pressure atmospheric conditions combine with influences from La Nia to create vast areas of heat that gets trapped under the high-pressure dome.
The primary factor in causing heat domes was a strong change in ocean temperatures from west to east in the tropical Pacific Ocean during the preceding winter.
Warm air is rising over the western Pacific. The heat waves are caused by the northern shifts of the jet stream trapping the air and moving it towards land.
The heat dome is related to the jet stream, a band of air that moves in a westerly direction.
William Gallus, a professor of atmospheric science at Iowa State University, wrote in a recent column that when the jet stream goes to the north, air piles up and sinks. The air warms as it sinks and the skies are clear. The sun creates hotter and hotter conditions around the ground.
The air can warm even more if it passes over mountains.
Climate change has made the jet stream more likely to go towards the North Pole because the poles are warming more quickly than the Equator. If greenhouse gas emissions aren't curbed, heat domes are going to be more common.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
