"The heat wave is happening because of a bizarrely strong ridge of high pressure in Earth's atmosphere. The ridge suppresses cloud formation and brings in warmer air. Such atmospheric ridges are more common in the summer, but this one would be unusually intense even for that season. It is the strongest ridge ever observed in March, Kaitlyn Trudeau, a senior researcher at the science nonprofit group Climate Central, told me."
"The group's researchers have developed a prediction model that assesses how much a warming trend or record high can be attributed to human-caused climate change. According to the model, climate change is making this week's western high temps five times more likely."
"More subjectively, this heat dome is 'otherworldly,' 'genuinely startling,' and 'absurd,' depending on which meteorologist you ask. The spread of March temperatures on Colorado's Front Range is typically wide, but not so wide that the Denver metro area should be expecting highs in the 80s- even inching up to 90."
A severe heat dome is affecting the American West from California to Texas, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees in Colorado Springs and 106 degrees near Phoenix—approximately 30 degrees above normal for mid-March. This extreme weather is caused by an unusually intense ridge of high pressure in Earth's atmosphere, the strongest ever recorded for March, which suppresses cloud formation and brings warmer air. According to Climate Central's prediction model, human-caused climate change is making these record-breaking temperatures five times more likely. Meteorologists describe the heat dome as otherworldly and absurd, particularly unusual given that March is typically Colorado's snowiest month.
#extreme-heat-wave #climate-change #atmospheric-pressure-ridge #record-temperatures #western-united-states
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