Record Heat For the Northeast
An extremely large high pressure ridge has set up along the eastern seaboard of the United States Wednesday. High pressure ridges often translate heat waves, and since Astronomical Summer begins at 7:09 ET today, this heat wave will be an intense one for the Northeast.
When I want to get a quick handle on where the intense weather is in the country, all I have to do is look at Weather Underground's severe map.
Do you see the pink colors in the Northeast. All of those alerts are are Heat Advisories that warm of heat index values greater than 100 degrees. Heat index is the combination of temperature and humidity that can cause the air to feel warmer than what it is.
For instance, the forecast for New York City today is 97 degrees. But because of high humidity, the air might feel more like 104 degrees. Needless to say, values this high can have an adverse affect on the health of numerous groups, including the elderly and pets. Thus, it is wise to check on the elderly members of your family and make sure you provide enough water for your pets.
The image above is the forecast for today. Note the widespread 90s and some 100s in the eastern half of the country. Here is a look at the forecast for some cities and their daily record values.
City Forecast(record high/record year)
New York 97 (98/1923)
Boston 93 (98/1953)
Philadelphia 97 (98/1931)
Washington, D.C. 97 (99/1931)
Providence 95 (95/1941)
Chicago 99 (104/1988)
St. Louis 95 (103/1953)
You can follow the heat wave by turning on the Weather Stations layer of the WunderMap. Stay safe and cool out there!
Reader Comments
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It is a two day period of temperatures in the 90s most areas with dewpoints in the upper 60s to lower 70s. It happens every year, often a few times. There have been many worse heat waves lasting many days that might qualify as "intense". Why are meteorologists sensationalizing everything these days?
It just makes people numb to the real severe weather events.... Joplin, MO.
Oh yeah...an extremely large high pressure system?
The 500 mb geopotential height peaks out briefly at 594 dm in PA. I have seen 600 dm ridges or at least 598/599 dm. This is just a typical upper level ridge and it lasts barely 6 hours on the models. Big whoop.
While I do understand the marketing/management philosophy - after the go round with the new web site design, I still do not think it is informative for a third, disinterested party to comment on a region's weather. That is, while I appreciate your desire to be helpful, it was not informative nor provide insightful information. As the first comment noted, this is not exactly an earth-shattering situation. I would find it helpful for you to share your meteorological training & experience. For instance, discussing the upper atmosphere conditions and dynamics.
Be well,
Kim Bailey
I believe we've had only 5 days of sun. I have had to run my heater almost every day
And can't take much more of the cold.
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