• Weather

Heatwaves Will Be As Deadly As Diseases Globally — Should We Name Them To Raise Awareness?

• air conditioning
• heat
• Hurricanes
• named storms
• severe weather

A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that if we don’t get global warming under control, the number of deaths globally from heat-related illness will rival the current number of deaths from all the infectious diseases combined.

Why This Matters:  Heat is considered a “silent killer” because there is little awareness about its health risks. To raise awareness many experts have recommended naming heat waves just like we do hurricanes and now winter storms.

• Weather

First Major Wildfire Breaks Out in California, Though COVID Complicates Evacuation Process for Thousands

• California
• California wildfires
• wildfire

The first major wildfire of the season has struck Southern California forcing thousands of residents to evacuate during a time where the COVID-19 pandemic has made evacuation shelters a dangerous place where the virus can spread. As AP reported, the Apple Fire in Riverside County, among several wildfires across California, had consumed more than 41 […]

• Weather

East Coast Heat Won’t Let Up as Mayors Work to Save Lives

• extreme heat
• heat illness
• heat island
• public health

The month of July was a scorcher along the Eastern Seaboard. Throughout the month, heat advisories and excessive heat warnings were in effect along the I-95 corridor, and in Washington D.C., July saw the most 90-degree days of any month on record and was the first month to never fall below 71 degrees since record-keeping […]

• Weather

Tropical Storm Isaias Crawling Up the East Coast, Could Make Landfall In the Carolinas Overnight

• #HurricaneIsaias
• damage
• Flooding
• National Hurricane Center
• rain
• storm surge
• wind

Tropical Storm Isaias is slowly moving up the Eastern seaboard today, with its biggest risk for damage now in the Carolinas, as the storm remained offshore of Florida causing flooding due to storm surge rather than wind damage.  It will be a very wet few days for the East Coast with heavy rains and storm surge, and inland flooding all the way up to New England.

Why This Matters:  A new study out last week found what we are seeing play out with Tropical Storm Isaias.

• Weather

Heat Dome in Southwest Keeps Temps At or Near 100 Degrees for Days on End

• #climatecrisis
• COVID-19
• heat stroke
• heat wave
• hurricane
• La Niña

Temperatures are forecast to continue to exceed 110 degrees across the Southwestern U.S. this week — Phoenix might set a record for its all-time high. But it’s not only going to bake the South — the heatwave will cause 100-degree temperatures across the Ohio Valley and into the Mid-Atlantic. At the same time, NOAA forecast that a “La Niña” (cooling of the ocean near the equator in the Pacific) could develop later this year increasing the likelihood of fall hurricanes, as well as a colder winter for some parts of the country.

Why This Matters:  The very areas of the country that are being ravaged by COVID-19 are now experiencing the worst of the heatwave too.

• Weather

Siberia’s Record-Breaking Heat Leads to Wild Fires and Alarm from Scientists

• Arctic
• Arctic melting
• global warming
• permafrost
• Siberia
• wildfires

At the end of June, we wrote that a record-breaking high temperature of 100° F was detected in the northeastern Siberian town of Verkhoyansk. This caused alarm as this was one more indicator of the rapid warming happening at the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately, this stretch of record heat has continued in Siberia where’s it’s accelerated […]