Wednesday May 29th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
The Dreaded Ring Of Fire…Day Seven
Today will be the last day of the current “ring of fire” pattern that has lasted for a week…thank God…so we will end this particular blog after a full week of posting on severe storms and record heat in the Southeast. Let’s be very clear. The record heat and days of severe outbreaks are very much interrelated. Today will be the last day of widespread record heat in the Southeast as our record strong 500 millibar heat ridge breaks down, allowing a front with its associated instability to weaken and finally move south and east. In turn, the water logged Plains, Midwest and portions of the Northeast will get a much needed break from storms.
So, there are some climate crisis dots we can connect across the U.S. from the past week of hellish weather. Let’s review what many have been writing about during the past week. High heat has led to severe weather. The ridge, though, was located in the worst spot to produce severe storms in the nation’s heartland, being over the Southeast, pumping moisture and associated instability northward through the Plains. If the ridge had been located over the Midwest dry weather and record heat would have occurred. Also, if it wasn’t for warming across the Arctic area we probably would not have seen such a highly amplified pattern leading to the other ingredient for Midwestern storms, strong cold pockets aloft digging into the West.
After today meteorological models indicate that the U.S. should have at least a few days of a break from widespread high heat and flooding rain. This is not to write that severe storms will totally end across the country after Wednesday, just that most of the Midwest and Plains will have a chance to dry out into this coming weekend.
Here is today’s Storm Prediction Center Day One Outlook depicting that “ring of fire” north of our southeastern ridge:
By Thursday that ring of fire will finally break in the Plains:
On Thursday most locations across the Southeast should be below record values:
First, let’s list more severe weather notes here:
Next, here are more notes on record heat including “ET” reports from Wednesday (I’ll be adding reports as Wednesday rolls along.):
Here is some more climate and weather news from Wednesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article.)
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Guy Walton- “The Climate Guy”