(OPINION) ETH – What we are witnessing right now is not even close to “normal”. I know that I have been making a lot of statements like that lately, but it is undeniable that some very strange things are happening.
For example, over the past couple of years, I have been consistently warning that global weather patterns were starting to go completely nuts, and at first, there were some people that didn’t believe me. But now nobody can deny that global weather patterns have become really, really weird.
At this moment, the Northwest is being slammed by a “heat dome” that is absolutely unprecedented. In the past, there have been times when the weather has gotten really hot and a city or two may set a new high-temperature record for a particular date,
but this week we are seeing city after city shatter their all-time records for hottest temperature ever recorded on any date. We have never seen anything like this before, and hopefully, this does not become “the new normal”. The following are 14 astonishing facts about the blistering heatwave that is absolutely frying the Northwest right now…
#1 According to CBS News, this heatwave is “rarer than a once in a 1,000-year event”…
The heatwave baking the U.S. Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Canada, is of an intensity never recorded by modern humans. By one measure it is rarer than a once in a 1,000-year event — which means that if you could live in this particular spot for 1,000 years, you’d likely only experience a heat dome like this once, if ever.
#2 CBS News Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli is reporting that there is only a “1/10,000+ chance” that a heat dome of this magnitude could form over the Northwest…
To put climate extremes into perspective we measure against the average. The sigma is the standard deviation of a normal distribution of expected values. In this case, the heat dome sigma max is 4.4 – that means it’s outside of 99.99% of expected values or a 1/10,000+ chance
#3 The hottest temperature ever recorded in Portland, Oregon prior to this heatwave was 107 degrees. On Saturday, the high temperature in the city was 108.
#4 On Sunday, the high temperature in Portland reached 112 degrees. That broke the all-time record that was set just the day before by 4 degrees.
#5 Conditions were so hot in Portland on Sunday that it was actually “melting streetcar power cables”.
#6 It was being projected that the high temperature in Portland would hit 113 degrees on Monday. That would be the third day in a row that a new all-time record was set.
#7 Prior to this heatwave, the hottest that it had ever been in Eugene, Oregon was 108 degrees. On Sunday, the high temperature was 111 degrees.
#8 Prior to this heatwave, the hottest that it had ever been in Salem, Oregon was 108 degrees. On Sunday, the high temperature was 113 degrees.
#9 Prior to this heatwave, the hottest that it had ever been in Vancouver, Washington was 108 degrees. On Sunday, the high temperature was 112 degrees.
#10 Things were cooler in Seattle, but the Emerald City still hit a brand new all-time record high temperature of 104 degrees on Sunday.
#11 On Monday, it was being projected that the high temperature in Seattle would reach 111 degrees. That would break the new all-time record that was set on Sunday by 7 full degrees. READ MORE
