Portland, Ore. was expected to reach a record 114° Fahrenheit Monday. This will surpass Sunday's record 112 degrees and eclipse Saturday's record of107 degrees.On Sunday, Seattle set another record, with 104°F in a place where most people don't have air conditioners. Lytton, British Columbia reached 116°.The heat dome in the Pacific Northwest has been described as an unprecedented weather phenomenon. This is because extreme temperatures in this region are rare. They may not be as common in the future, however, thanks to climate change.Isis Macadaeg (7 years old) plays in a spraypark in Seattle on Sunday. (Karen Ducey/Reuters).According to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles, climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme heat events. This is also true for specific regions.Although the causes of heat dome weather phenomena are complicated, a ridge high in pressure fell on the Pacific Northwest. Offshore winds brought unusually dry air from the high desert to the region. It has been trending in one direction since the precipitating climate conditions.Swain stated that the region has seen a mean temperature increase of between 2 and 4 degrees Fahrenheit.Portland, Ore. is hit by a heat wave (Maranie Staab/Reuters).Climate scientists are increasingly pointing out that the events unfolding in drought-stricken West this spring/summer is a warning sign.This is consistent with the changes in climate, Erica Fleishman from Oregon State University's Climate Change Research Institute told The Oregonian newspaper. It's becoming warmer in the summer, and heat waves are occurring more often, are larger and last longer.Continue the storyAlthough cooling centers have been established in Seattle, Portland and other cities for those without air conditioning, the heat wave is so intense that some roads in Washington have buckled.The state route 544 milepost 7, located near Everson, Wa, is currently closed. The asphalt road is unsafe to travel on because it buckles. WSDOT is urged and detours are being prepared.BL pic.twitter.com/5Yb9UYzbDc Trooper Rocky Oliphant, @wspd7pio June 28, 2021Evidence from around the globe shows that climate change is increasing the intensity, duration, and frequency of heat waves. Kristie Ebi, professor at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington told the Associated Press. This is something we will have to accept going forward.The National Center for Atmospheric Research conducted a 2009 study and found that record-setting temperatures were outpacing record-setting low temperatures by a ratio 2:1. Computer models show that this disparity will increase to 20:1 in 2050, and 50:1 in 2100.Although a single temperature reading or a heat wave is not indicative of climate changes, the upward shift of temperatures can be explained by the increasing amount of greenhouse gases that have been pumped into the atmosphere each year since the beginning of the industrial revolution. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC), global average temperatures have increased by 1.1 degrees Celsius and are rapidly approaching the 1.5 degree threshold, beyond which many climate scientists warn of the dire consequences of global warming.In turn, the increase in average temperatures has been felt in the form of regular occurring extreme weather events, such as the heat dome over Pacific Northwest.Different people learn in different ways, but I found that I was unable to grasp climate change until I saw charts like these. Even small shifts in the average can lead to large increases in the frequency and severity of extreme heat events. pic.twitter.com/DeupIw81IF Matthew Yglesias, (@mattyglesias), June 28, 2021Swain warned that the causes of the current heat dome in the Pacific Northwest must be investigated, but he is certain that climate change is a factor.In the past five to eight years, science has made great strides. Scientists, who ten years ago were uncomfortable linking certain weather events to climate change, now do it on a regular basis. Swain explained that science is a dynamic process. Things change and things evolve. He also said that the signal is stronger than it was ten years ago. These models and the scientific tools that we use to test them have improved.Evidence is mounting that humanity is rapidly approaching a tipping point. Events like the current heat wave seem to be sounding alarm bells.Jean Flemma, Ocean Defense Initiative director, said that if our decision-makers don't see this heat wave as a sign of things to follow and take swift action to adopt climate change policies, I fear for humanity's future.____Yahoo News has more information:
