Daily temperature records will tumble as sizzling early season heat from a summerlike heat dome sends thermometers skyrocketing into the triple digits in parts of California and the West this week.
The official start of summer is just a few weeks away, but it will feel like July in much of the West as temperatures climb 20 degrees or more above average, the highest temperatures of the year so far for many locations.
Excessive heat warnings are in effect for more than 17 million people in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona this week. The warnings are the most extreme form of heat alert issued by the National Weather Service and are used when widespread, dangerous heat is expected.
The soaring temperatures are being caused by a heat dome, a large area of high pressure that parks over an area, traps air and heats it with abundant sunshine for days or weeks. The resulting heat becomes more intense the longer a heat dome lasts.
Climate change effects are compounding, as polar caps melt they release trapped methane which is more effective greenhouse gas than CO2.
As temperatures heat up, people just gonna turn up HVAC more, more energy usage, which means we either get green real quick, or this feedback loop will continue until we break.
But all this is known. We’re all gonna be scrambling when we reach that point, spouting “We didn’t listen” like that episode of South Park about this very issue.
Meh, im sure the rich fucks have contingencies for themselves, so it’s all good.
Meh, im sure the rich fucks have contingencies for themselves, so it’s all good.
Yes. Die after everyone else does when they finally figure out that there’s nothing left to live for, money doesn’t mean shit if you’re king of a dead world.
🤣 The joke is that if society were to start collapsing, it won’t, but if, the rich people’s homes would be raided and looted first.
So the rich are fucking up doubley.
Like the idiots in World War Z who created a compound and then started livestreaming from it.
Is it just me or was ‘heat dome’ not even a thing like 10 years ago?
Brought to you by the fine folks at Exxon-Mobile/Chevron/Shell/Texaco/BP
They’ve always been a thing in Texas. The difference is now it moves around and the rest of you get to experience the miserable heat as well.
First one I personally remember was 2003 in Europe.
Here’s hoping those ass fucks in Texas get to see their fair share this bullshit. While they sit around climate denying they can fucking roast.
The residents of Texas are not completely to blame. Texas has the highest rates of voter suppression in the country. Secondly, the Texas education system has been built in a way to persist the current leadership in the state. And finally, many of the people live in poverty and will likely die for what oil execs and politicians have done.
Wishing this is short sighted and is blaming the symptom and not the root cause problem.
living in austin for 5 years taught that even the bluest texans are ardently pro-establishment.
that doesn’t mean that all of them are climate deniers; but like their red brethren, they’ll fall in line and vote for a climate change denier if it means their guy gets to win.
like most of the country, they hate their choices but will fight you tooth and nail if you try to change anything for the better; don’t bother with benefit of the doubt when it comes to texans.
As someone from Texas who isn’t a climate denier, fuck off.
Also we’re having severe thunderstorms nearly daily… I am not ready for the rebound of heat that’s about to come.
Vote better. Or, if you already do, work harder to get the fuckers out of office.
Well that’s pretty misanthropic. Maybe don’t take your frustrations out on the average citizen that probably has nothing real to do with this, and who are the only people who will suffer from the climate issues. Cruz sure won’t.
Triple digits? That’s way too much Celsius!
I think triple digits in US temperature is about as warm as a hamburger 100 seconds off the grill.
US temperatures
what… is that? Temperature is measured in Celsius. Maybe Kelvin if you want to be fancy or are doing really cool stuff with really cool states of matter.
Fahrenheit would like to have a word with you…
Escusé moi I don’t believe in fuhrers or fahrers or whatever the Germans are inventing these days.
(alas, not completely sarcasm, but that’s the modern world for you.)
That title is very scary when you Live in Celsius
Spooked me for a moment
The graphic made me double take this also. I’m like, what new fresh hellish projection are we in for now.
Well . . . yeah, the planet’s dying.
We shold probably do something about that? I guess?
Planet will be fine, our ability to live on it not so much.
The entirety of planetary flora and fauna to see you, sir
Life uh… finds a way.
Tell that to the dodo.
Oh individual species may die, entire eco systems may collapse. But life as a process is extremely resilient.
Obviously we don’t want that happening.
I mean, it has survived all the other extinctions so far. It’s easy to be cocky about it.
We just don’t remember us doing it in so messed up a way before.
Life on earth sruvived the permian-triassic extinction.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian–Triassic_extinction_event
Basically every volcano on earth lit up and choked the entire planet with toxic air, acid rain, continental fires, etc. Life survived that, it’ll survive humanity’s death throes.
Well I just wanted to say good luck, and we’re all counting on you.
Horseshoe crabs will be fine.
Sponges, too. They’re filter feeders so all the decomposing bodies in the water cause them to flourish.
Which makes me immediately suspicious of anyone in square pants.
Venus would also like a word.
Edit: For anyone curious, I’m referring to Venus as a potential model for runaway greenhouse effect.
Why does a razor marketed for women want to talk to me, a cis man with a big ol’ hippie beard?
What differentiates a viking beard from a hippie beard?
Viking style beards are braided. Like this one:
Because she’s got it, yeah baby, she’s got it.
The Earth used to be hotter than Venus was. The first mass extinction fixed that and turned our world into a snowball a couple times.
Just throw some ice asteroids at Venus and some cyanobacteria, and we can have 2 Earth like planets in a few hundred thousand years.
Provided we fix this one…
Eh, humans will be dead long before we get anywhere close to venus’s level.
Yes, absolutely, you are right. The comments in this thread and elsewhere are that Earth will be fine. Our current trajectory doesn’t bode well for that assertion.
Earth will. We and the majority of the current forms of life not so much. The earth has been considerably hotter than now and with considerably more co2. It’s the rate of change that’s the real issue for both us and most life.
Earth will be fine. This isn’t the first time global warming has happened, and life survived that and many other mass extinction events. Most larger animals won’t survive, but enough would for life to keep going.
Without humans pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the earth will eventually return to normal. It might take several million years, but that’s nothing considering there’s like 4b years before the sun gets big enough to destroy everything.
Thank you for the response. This isn’t my field of study but my Astronomy professor back in college pointed to Venus as a possible outcome for Earth if we continued with our current emissions. I know atmospheric CO2 levels in the past were much higher on Earth but I’m truthfully not sure I understand what mechanisms Earth has that Venus lacked. I’m not trying to argue the point; really, I just want to learn.
Lastly, I love your username. It sounds delightful.
I prefer my domes thunder or teapot scandal
“this stuff just happens in waves. As long as it’s not cold!” - some people we’ll be sharing eternal beds with
At least I’m not wasting my time with children or church
I for one welcome the news spicing up weather forecasts with catchy yet threatening labels. We’ve gone from atmospheric rivers to heat domes. Maybe this is what’s needed to get people to consider climate action. They’ll be movie titles soon enough.
Oh the joys of my apartment AC breaking
I sincerely hope those are burger units.
Fuck. Stay safe all.
Fuck
The imperial system of measurement is for losers.
The worst part about this, is that some people still don’t use metric.
Edit- tough crowd
I’m American but I grew up in Europe. When it comes to metric units I am absolutely in favor of meters, liters, grams, etc. since they make more sense than Imperial units and are easier to use in most situations.
But for temperature scales while Celsius is great for scientific measurements, Fahrenheit is better for describing the temperatures humans live at.
