The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
The US West Coast is set to have its hottest two weeks in 70 years, putting even more strain on power grids after California imposed rolling blackouts for the first time since 2001.
Excessive heat warnings and watches stretch from the Pacific Coast inland to Montana, Utah and Arizona, according to the National Weather Service. Sacramento is forecast to be 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) by Tuesday. Pasadena could hit 108.
“It doesn’t look like it changes through early next week — it doesn’t look like it changes at all,†said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster with the USWeather Prediction Center.
The problem is a large high pressure system that has centred across the Great Basin that spans Nevada and other western states. It essentially acts as a lid trapping trapping an ocean
of hot air beneath it and there aren’t any indications it’s going to budge soon.
Such phenomenons, sometimes called heat domes, are getting worse as the Earth’s climate changes. As the planet warms, the contrast between the heat at the equator and the cold at the pole decreases.
That saps the strength of the jet stream, which otherwise would be able to shove the ridges out of the way. Hence, heat waves get stuck in place for longer.
Last month was tied for the world’s second-hottest July on record and the hottest ever in the northern hemisphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The contiguous US had its third-warmest June this year, and July was the 11th hottest in records going back 126 years, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. It was the hottest July ever for several states, including Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Now it’s the West Coast’s turn. Based on population-weighted cooling degree days, a measure of weather’s impact on energy demand, the next 15 days will be the hottest in records going back to 1950 for California, Oregon and Washington, according to commercial forecaster Maxar. The worst of the heat could come on Wednesday.
“It is quite impressive there,†said Bradley Harvey, lead meteorologist at Maxar.
The weather will some of the most intense since 2006, when a West Coast heat wave killed more than 600 people, put 1,200 more in the hospital and sent 16,000 to emergency rooms, according to Southwest Climate Adaption Science Center at the University of Arizona’s website.