Record-Setting Heat Wave in U.S. Settles in as "Silent Killer"

[one...two...tree 2,762]

HEAT WAVE: Above normal temperatures across a wide swathe of the U.S. is different and more dangerous than heat waves of the past, largely due to record-setting nighttime highs. Image: NOAA

Extreme heat is scorching much of the eastern United States, and it's not expected to let up anytime soon.

Experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center say much of the southern half of the country will be hotter than normal in August, with the worst conditions in Texas, Louisiana and parts of Mississippi and Arkansas.

"We have quite a few records being set," said Deke Arndt, chief of the climate modeling branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center. "This is a very large heat wave."

Most damaging, federal forecasters said yesterday, are rising night temperatures.

During the first three weeks of July, 12 weather stations have recorded all-time daytime highs. But 93 weather stations have seen their all-time warmest nighttime temperatures, Arndt said.

In other words, the coolest parts of the day are getting warmer, making it harder for people -- especially those without air conditioning -- to recover from daytime heat exposure.

Studies suggest that kind of prolonged exposure to high temperatures increases the risk of death for vulnerable groups like the elderly, said Rebecca Noe, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency's study of a 2005 heat wave in Maricopa County, Ariz., found that elderly people were more likely to die indoors, while those who died outside were more likely to be younger, working in outdoor occupations or homeless.

"Heat is a 'silent killer,'" Noe said. "The danger is not well-recognized, and people can be caught unprepared for heat waves."

The shift to hotter nights has been developing for some time, Arndt said yesterday.

"This trend to have even more dramatic numbers of overnight lower temperatures being exceedingly warm is consistent with what we have seen in recent decades," he said.

Hot days, high humidity, little relief at night

That was one conclusion of a 2009 study by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and NOAA, who found that nights are getting warmer. Their study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, also found evidence that climate change is skewing the proportion of record high temperatures to record low temperatures in the continental United States, with extremely hot days now outnumbering extremely cold days by 2-to-1.

Meanwhile, the current heat wave's scorching temperatures are exacerbated by high humidity, which makes it harder for the body to cool down by sweating.

The National Weather Service is predicting highs of 103 degrees Fahrenheit in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, with muggy conditions making it feel even hotter -- the equivalent of 115 degrees.

Conditions will be slightly cooler in New York City, where the mercury is expected to hit 99 degrees, with a heat index of 108 degrees.

The agency has placed large swaths of the Midwestern and mid-Atlantic regions, as well as the Ohio Valley, under "excessive heat warnings," which it issues when it expects a heat index of at least 105 degrees Fahrenheit for three hours a day, two days in a row, or a heat index of 115 degrees for any length of time.

The current heat wave comes after record or near-record temperatures last month in many parts of the country.

This year saw the seventh-warmest year on record, globally, while the first six months of 2011 were the 11th-warmest year-to-date on record, Arndt said.

In the United States, last month was the 26th-warmest June in 117 years of record-keeping.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-heat-wave-silent-killerr

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Their always crying about something in the lower 48. Heatwaves, floods, tornado's, mudslides, hurricanes, snow storms,... blah blah blah cry me a river. God I'm glad I live in Alaska.

Edited July 23, 2011 by Why_Me

[scandal 951]

Residents of Cordova, Alaska, protest the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. Photo courtesy of Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Residents of Cordova, Alaska, protest the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. Photo courtesy of Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

Help me out here please...was the Exxon Valdez oil spill a natural phenomena or was it caused by some drunk ship captain ?

[scandal 951]

Alaskans. Always cryin' about something. Oil spills, earthquakes, tsunamis. Just cryin', crying', cryin' and complainin' and protestin'.

Fish processing workers and local residents head up the hill after a tsunami warning was issued in Unalaska's Dutch Harbor, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, June 23, 2011

June 24, 2011

Major Earthquake Strikes Off Alaskan Coast

A strong earthquake struck off the coast of the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska late Thursday.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a 7.2 magnitude quake was detected near the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, more than 1,600 kilometers southwest of the city of Anchorage. The quake was measured at a depth of 40 kilometers.

The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas of Amchitka Pass to Dutch Harbor, but lifted it about an hour after the quake struck. There have been no reports of injuries or damage.

==================

The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake, the Portage Earthquake and the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing buildings, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths.

Lasting nearly four minutes, it was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the second most powerful ever measured by seismograph. It had a magnitude of 9.2, at the time making it the second largest earthquake in recorded history.

Edited July 24, 2011 by scandal

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Alaska Volcano Shows Signs of Impending Eruption

[scandal 951]

Alaska Volcano Shows Signs of Impending Eruption

[Amby 490]

omg that photo

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Alaskans. Always cryin' about something. Oil spills, earthquakes, tsunamis. Just cryin', crying', cryin' and complainin' and protestin'.

Fish processing workers and local residents head up the hill after a tsunami warning was issued in Unalaska's Dutch Harbor, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, June 23, 2011

June 24, 2011

Major Earthquake Strikes Off Alaskan Coast

A strong earthquake struck off the coast of the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska late Thursday.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a 7.2 magnitude quake was detected near the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, more than 1,600 kilometers southwest of the city of Anchorage. The quake was measured at a depth of 40 kilometers.

The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas of Amchitka Pass to Dutch Harbor, but lifted it about an hour after the quake struck. There have been no reports of injuries or damage.

==================

The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake, the Portage Earthquake and the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing buildings, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths.

Lasting nearly four minutes, it was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the second most powerful ever measured by seismograph. It had a magnitude of 9.2, at the time making it the second largest earthquake in recorded history.

You dodged my question. Not the first time, and nothing unusual considering...

[SMOKE 1,426]

HEAT WAVE: Above normal temperatures across a wide swathe of the U.S. is different and more dangerous than heat waves of the past, largely due to record-setting nighttime highs. Image: NOAA

no doubt. i can see it in the guys working out in the shop. the consecutive days above 100 is taking it toll...keep a look out for the folks forced to endure the elements this summer.

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

strange, i remember temps in the 100's when i was a kid in texas, but we didn't have anyone running around telling us the sky was falling.

eta: that was in the 70's, btw.

Edited July 24, 2011 by charles!

[SMOKE 1,426]

strange, i remember temps in the 100's when i was a kid in texas, but we didn't have anyone running around telling us the sky was falling.

eta: that was in the 70's, btw.

this is different. i've lived here for quite some time & i've never seen anything like this. by 9-10am the heat index is around 100..of course it gets worse later in the day. the cumulative effect of 100+ temps day after day is wearing on people & animals. the grass in the open fields is brown, it looks like the middle of winter.

[웃 910]

this is different. i've lived here for quite some time & i've never seen anything like this. by 9-10am the heat index is around 100..of course it gets worse later in the day. the cumulative effect of 100+ temps day after day is wearing on people & animals. the grass in the open fields is brown, it looks like the middle of winter.

Do you believe in it?

[SMOKE 1,426]

Do you believe in it?

believe in what?

[웃 910]

believe in what?

climate change