Extreme weather torments every U.S. region, and it’s far from over
Nearly every corner of the Lower 48 is dealing with some sort of wild weather, with fires, floods, tornadoes and a punishing heat wave all wreaking havoc.
A staggering 120 million Americans were covered by alerts for extreme heat Tuesday, while half a million customers in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley remained in the dark after violent thunderstorms knocked out power Monday night.
The week began with record heat swelling from Nebraska to South Carolina. Chicago dealt with hurricane-force winds and probable tornadoes. Yellowstone National Park was blocked off to visitors due to roads made impassible by flooding. Fires raged in the Desert Southwest.
The seemingly disjointed atmospheric turmoil is all tied together in what meteorologists refer to as a “ring of fire” weather pattern. A stifling heat dome is parked over the Tennessee Valley, bringing exceptional heat and humidity while severe thunderstorms erupt along its northern fringe. In the dome’s wake, dry air has parched the Southwestern landscape, creating tinderbox conditions for fastspreading fires. A dip in the jet stream on the heat dome’s northwest flank has allowed exceptional amounts of moisture to pour over the Northern Rockies.
The active weather pattern, with heat acting as the centerpiece, is slated to stick around for the next week or two. The heat, intensified by human- caused climate change, could well fuel more destructive storms.
The National Weather Service received nearly 600 reports of severe weather Monday as violent thunderstorms erupted in the Midwest and charged southeastward through the Ohio Valley into southwest Virginia and western North Carolina. The storms unleashed winds up to 98 mph, downing hundreds of trees.
Forming on the northern periphery of the heat dome and energized by south-tonorth temperature contrasts, the storms drew down roaring high-altitude winds as destructive gusts.
On Monday evening, the storms began along Interstate 94 between Madison and Milwaukee, dropping hen-egg-size hail before shifting over Lake Michigan.
The thunderstorm grew to nearly 70,000 feet tall, feeling the effects of the jet stream aloft, which contributed to its potency. Prolific lightning rates, with more than a dozen flashes per second, accompanied the developing storm cell.
Another severe storm blossomed west of Chicago, becoming a supercell or rotating thunderstorm that prompted the issuance of tornado warnings across the area. Sirens blared as funnels danced west of town, several of which may have intermittently touched down. There was radar evidence of tight circulations near Streamwood, Roselle and Maywood, Ill., and an 84 mph wind gust was reported at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Farther east, storms consolidated into multiple bow echoes, or curved squall lines containing strong winds. The most severe blasted through northeast Indiana, extreme southern Michigan and the majority of Ohio. Winds gusted to 98 mph at the airport in Fort Wayne, Ind., and 75 mph in Putnam, Ohio.
The line broke apart before reaching the mid-Atlantic on Tuesday afternoon, though additional bouts of strong to severe storms are probable in the Midwest and Ohio Valley Wednesday and Thursday — again firing along the heat dome’s northern fringe.
The heat dome is currently centered near Nashville. It has established dozens of high temperature records since it first formed late last week over Texas and the Southwest. Temperatures soared as high as 123 degrees in Death Valley, Calif. while Phoenix hit 114 and Las Vegas 109 over the weekend. Austin and San Antonio made it to 105.
Now widespread readings in the upper 90s to near 100 are shifting east. Stifling humidity is making these air temperatures feel 10 to 15 degrees higher.
The heat will ease in Minnesota and Wisconsin on Wednesday, but will threaten records from Detroit to Atlanta.
Meanwhile, the combination of gusty winds, low humidity and drought — intensified by recent recordbreaking temperatures — has spurred dangerous fire conditions in the Southwest.
New fires broke out in California and Arizona since the weekend, including north of Flagstaff, where the Pipeline Fire has torched 5,000 acres. The Associated Press reported that the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort was closed and hundreds of homes evacuated in response to the fire, which is the second to affect the area this year.
In New Mexico, the state’s largest wildfire on record continues to rage east of Santa Fe. The Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fire complex, has charred a whopping 325,340 acres — 12 times the size of Disney World — and is 70% contained. Simultaneously, the Black Fire, New Mexico’s second largest on record, also rages.