And the heat goes on
That old song mentions that the 鈥渂eat goes on,鈥� but the news today is more about the heat going on. After a mild winter, spring took a bit of time to arrive, hampered by more rain than cold temperatures. Five of the last six months have seen above normal rainfall across the region; however, so far, the totals are much lower than last year蘑菇视频 record-setting rainfall, where we ended the year some 14 to 18 inches above normal and had the wettest year on record.
Two weeks ago, summer finally arrived and with it some warm weather. June 27, 28 and 29 all recorded temperatures of 90 degrees. The mountains were crowded this past week with boats, rafters and campers. It was good to feel the warmth and I even heard a few comments from die-hard winter lovers about the heat and humidity.
While we did see some 90-degree weather, the Southeastern part of the country has had some very hot weather with several days topping 100 degrees. Even Alaska has had a lot of heat this spring and early summer. June 28 saw a temperature of 90 degrees in Fairbanks and an article in the 蘑菇视频 this week talked about the melting sea ice causing problems for fishing and seal hunting. The water temperature off the coast of Alaska is some nine degrees above normal. These warm waters and melting ice lead to even warmer water, and warmer water leads to more energy to produce even more heat which is what a lot of the recent climate change issues are about. More heat produces more energy and more energy produces more and stronger storms.
Speaking of more heat, last week Europe saw some of its hottest temperatures ever recorded. France set a new record of 114.6 degrees. The old record of 111.4 was set in 2003 during a heat wave where more than 15,000 people died. Twelve locations in France had their warmest temperature ever recorded in any month.
Germany set a new all time record of 102 degrees, beating a record from 72 years ago in 1947. Of the 451 reporting stations in Germany, 204 had their warmest June ever. Madrid reached a high of 106 degrees on June 28 and Rome settled in at 97. Perhaps this was not the week to visit Europe.
It is also interesting to note that much of Europe is not air conditioned like the United States. Heat waves of this intensity are rare and cities in Europe are just not prepared for this kind of weather. Since cities were built using a lot of stone and concrete, they tend to be much warmer than the surrounding areas and capture much of the heat and hold onto it even at night, creating urban heat islands much like our cities here in the United States, but with no air conditioning. With no air conditioning, visiting in the summer during one of these heat waves can be both challenging and even dangerous.
Back home, though, we are still expecting this summer to be near normal as to temperature and rainfall.