HEAT WAVE IN CANADA & NORTHWEST AMERICA

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According to U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) , world’s average annual temperature is one degree Celsius warmer than it was a century ago. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2005, and seven of the 10 have occurred just since 2014 .

Canada is widely known for its brutal winter and snows, and prior to the weekend the historical high in Canada was 45°C, set in Saskatchewan in 1937, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The heat over western parts of Canada and the US has been caused by a dome of static high-pressure hot air stretching from California to the Arctic territories. Temperatures have been easing in coastal areas but there is not much respite for inland regions.  

The scorching heat stretching from the US state of Oregon to Canada’s Arctic territories has been blamed on a high-pressure ridge trapping warm air in the region.

The heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, which is more accustomed to long bouts of rain than sun, resulted from a high pressure system that wasn’t moving, said Greg Flato, a senior research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada based in Victoria.

Weather-wise, the current heat wave in the west is due to a “heat dome,”. It’s a large area of high pressure that extends well up into the atmosphere. So in British Columbia , even at the top of the Rocky Mountains, the temperature is some 15 to 20 degrees above normal .So, when you have this dome, this high-pressure system, it’s a lot of sinking air underneath that just warms more as it comes down towards the coast.  

  Full article is available athttps://upsconline.com/heat-wave-in-canada-northwest-america/

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