by New York (AP)-A intense and almost historical weather pattern this week is cooking a large part of America under a dangerous heat umbrella with triple figures temperatures in places that have not been so hot in more than a decade.
The heat wave is mainly threatening because early in the summer it affects cities such as Boston, New York and Philadelphia, when people have not adapted their bodies to the growing circumstances, different meteorologists said. The dome of high pressure that parks over the Eastern United States is from the southwest of the southwest that has already made an uncomfortable stop in the midwest.
An important measurement of the strength of high pressure broke a record on Monday and was the third highest reading for each date, which ensures an “almost historical” heat wave, said private meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The worst of the heat was probably a peak for northeastern cities on Tuesday, said predictors.
“As an air fryer it gets hot,” said Maue. “This is a three -day piece of dangerous heat that will test the courage of city dwellers that are most vulnerable to oppressive heat waves.”
A heat umbrella occurs when a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere works like a reservoir, with heat and humidity catching. A heat wave is the persistence of heat, usually three days or more, with unusually hot temperatures.
Where the heat will be the worst
Almost three-quarters of the population of the Land-2445 million people-oceans with 90 degrees Fahrenheit (about 32 Celsius) or higher temperatures on Monday, and 33 million people, almost 10% of the country, will feel a blistering of 100 degrees (about 38 Celsius) on Tuesday. The HEAT Health website of the government showed the highest level of heat risk in seams from Chicago to Pittsburgh and North Carolina to New York.
Those three-way numerical air temperatures-with the feeling-like index even worse due to moisture-being possibly in places where it is unusual. New York has not seen 100 degrees since 2011 and Philadelphia, which is expected to have consecutive triple figures, has not reached that brand since 2012, said climate central meteorologist Bernadette Woods Placky.
In the center of Baltimore, the temperature climbed early on Monday afternoon in the High 90s, so that dozens of people cool in St. Vincent de Paul’s Resource Center. A few blocks away closed the historic Food Hall from Broadway Market asked early when the air conditioning of the building broke.
The heat forced the cancellation of events in West Baltimore, said Eric Davis Sr., who spends most of his days working on a baseball court there.
“You can’t have children who get a sun stroke,” he said. “It’s just too hot today.”
Noaa -meteorologist David Roth said it takes time to acclimatize the summer heat and this heat umbrella can be a shock for some.
“You are talking about some places that can be 40 degrees warmer than last week. So that’s a big problem,” he said.
Climate change makes the earth warmer
The heat is part of the long -term warming of the earth. The summers in the United States are 2.4 degrees (1.3 degrees Celsius) hotter than 50 years ago, according to Noaa data. Human climate change caused this heat wave three times more chance than without burning coal, oil and gas, climate science non-profit climate calculated centrally, with the help of computer simulations that again compared to a fictional world without the industrial greenhouse gases.
An important question is how much moisture will contribute to the discomfort and the danger of the heat.
Maue predicts dry air that can be a degree or two or three hotter than predicted by Noaa, but more comfortable. Other meteorologists expected worse: sticky, humid and even more dangerous.
“The ‘Big Deal’ will be with the humidity that is provided with the wet late spring conditions,” said Jason Furtado, professor of the University of Oklahoma meteorology. “The area of high pressure ensures that a lot of evaporation takes place from the wet soils locally and regionally, which will increase the heat indices quite a bit.”
Woods Placky said to be expected in the 70s dew points, an important benchmark for humidity. That is downright tropical, with some places that are approaching a dew point of 80 – a Woods Placky level said that “you are in a swimming pool” and “the atmosphere absorbs you.”
If this heat was later in the summer, it might not be so dangerous because the human body can adapt to the seasonal warmer temperatures, but this comes within a few days after the solstice, said Woods Placky and others.
“It will be a shock for the system,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia and Lea Skene in Baltimore have contributed.
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