Scott Duncan Profile picture
Jun 25, 2021 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Brutal heat building over the US Pacific Northwest and Western Canada right now will shatter many all-time heat records over the coming days.

The extent, intensity and longevity of this level of heat is absolutely mind-blowing.

THREAD
Yes, you are reading this correctly. Glowing white hot over +40°C (104°F) widely all along the western side of North America.

This is the animation in hourly detail. Let's not forget about how hot the nights will be.
The punishing heatwave has an incredible jet stream pattern.

The dome of heat will be encircled by the polar jet and this helps lift a sub-tropical jet branch almost into the Canadian Arctic.
An 'unfathomable temperature anomaly'.

'Approaching 25°C (>40°F) above normal for B.C.'

Parts of Washington State, like Seattle also looking at unprecedented anomalies. Places that don't necessarily have the infrastructure to deal with such heat.

The 'extreme forecast index' from @ecmwf tells us that this level of heat has never happened in their dataset.

The level of heat is off-the-scale.
Western Canada and US are losing glacier mass extremely quickly, one of the fastest changing environments on the planet.

More can be learnt about the change in glaciers across the globe here: wgms.ch/global-glacier…
The intensity of these heatwaves have the fingerprints of human-induced climate change written all over it.

This is how the average temperature of Canada 🇨🇦 and the USA 🇺🇸 have changed over the last 200 years or so.

Data via @BerkeleyEarth
We have to be careful how things are attributed. Would this level of heat be possible in our cooler previous climate?

I like this thread by @ClimateOfGavin explaining carefully how climate and extremes are connected.

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More from @ScottDuncanWX

Mar 3
Truly outlandish.

Some places in Europe didn't just record their warmest February on record.... They went on to beat their warmest MARCH temperature levels.

[THREAD] Image
Effectively everywhere in the dark red shading smashed warmest February record - most by large margin. Austria 🇦🇹 has over 250 years of temperature record and nothing compares to this. Not even close.

Source: zamg.ac.at/cms/de/klima/n…
Image
Wiener Neustadt in the east of Austria was so warm that temperature of February 2024 exceeded the warmest MARCH record (data here since 1949).

uwz.at/de/a/waermer-a…
Read 11 tweets
Aug 27, 2023
Heatwave going out with a bang in Europe.

Watch how the jet stream digs aggressively into Southern Europe. The atmosphere is primed for severe weather - unfolding right now...
This animation captures the transition from extreme heat (unprecedented for this late in August) to relatively cool conditions.

The variable shown here is the temperature at 850 hPa (usually around 1.5km above sea level). This can help show where our airmass is coming from.
The Mediterranean is also acting like an extra source of fuel for the storms. The sea surface temperatures are at record hot levels.

The Gulf of Lion (just south of France) is especially hot. The sea surfaces will likely cool dramatically during this breakdown.

You can access the satellite derived sea surface temperature data here:

The graph can be found here:
Read 7 tweets
Aug 10, 2023
BREAKING: Valencia 🇪🇸 has just scorched its previous heat record by a shocking +3.4°C

The new provisional record stands at 46.8°C (116.2°F). This is a huge record-break. Image
Before commenting.... please read the thread.

Historical record can be found here:

Simply select the variables you would like to check. This weather station has data since 1966. A lengthy period of observation to smash a record by such huge margin. https://t.co/JHyxNLmKZXaemet.es/es/servicioscl…
Image
The final maximum to the decimal point may still change in final daily maximum but it is a clear record by large margin.

Please read through this thread... There is a lot of detail. The temperature dropped suddenly after the maximum and can be explained.

Read 5 tweets
Jul 25, 2023
This is the hottest we have ever observed.

The Mediterranean is now completely outside all previous records. We have never measured this level of heat across the basin at any time of year.

It is only July. We usually see the annual maximum in August.
Image
Image
We could also be looking at a new world record in ocean heat from Manatee Bay (Florida). Please carefully read the excellent thread by @DrJeffMasters, there are a few uncertainties explained

You can learn more about and access the sea surface temperature data I used in the map here:

This is the link to access data in the Mediterranean: https://t.co/RcwfekQX5xncei.noaa.gov/products/optim…
ceam.es/ceamet/SST/SST…
Read 6 tweets
Jul 24, 2023
BREAKING: Palermo in Sicily has just obliterated its all-time heat record by over 2°C. The previous record was +44.8°C in August 1999.

The observatory has weather data dating back to 1791. This is a very significant record to fall by such an enormous margin. Image
It looks like Europe has also just set a new heat record for the month of July.

The heat in Southern Europe and North Africa on top of the extraordinary overnight temperatures really is astonishing. Image
A more complete list of records from today via @extremetemps

Read 7 tweets
Jul 20, 2023
Our oceans have been breaking heat records across the globe daily since March.

Excessive and sustained heat in the oceans can have enormous impact on many types of marine life. We have seen damaging marine heatwaves before, but not like this.

A short thread... Image
Let's start with the Mediterranean...

The Mediterranean Sea has never been this warm so early in the year (in modern record). The current heat is challenging some of the hottest moments which usually occur in August. Image
We know from past study that the some of the fiercest marine heatwaves (like 2003 and last year) led to mass mortality of some species in the Meditteranean

Research from 2003:

Also an article from last year: https://t.co/NUHSLkeiHDonlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.…
theguardian.com/environment/20…
Read 9 tweets

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