Table of Contents
What is a Heat Dome?
- Canada is reeling under a severe heat wave, which has caused an unprecedented 195 per cent rise in sudden fatalities within the past five days.
- In Portland city in Oregon, US, temperatures as high as 46 degree Celsius were recently registered – just three degrees short of the internal core temperature of a cooked shrimp.
- On June 29, temperatures in Portland advanced to 46.7 degree Celsius.
- Canada too saw its highest temperature ever recorded in the country’s west. In Lytton in British Columbia, temperatures soared to over 46 degree Celsius last week.
- 800 sudden and unexpected deaths have been reported
- The abnormal heat wave caused the temperature in the country to rise to 49.5 degrees Celsius, an all-time record. The weather experts have blamed the heat dome effect for the sudden rise in temperature.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that to understand what causes a heat dome, one should liken the Pacific ocean to a large swimming pool in which the heater is turned on.
- Once the heater is on, the portions of the pool close to the heating jets will warm up faster and therefore, the temperature in that area will be higher. In the same way, the western Pacific ocean’s temperatures have increased in the past few decades and are relatively more than the temperature in the eastern Pacific.
- This strong change in ocean temperature from the west to the east is what a team of scientists believe is the reason for the heat dome, which is when the atmosphere traps heat at the surface, which encourages the formation of a heat wave.
- To compare, the reason that the planet Venus is the hottest in the Solar System is because its thick, dense cloud cover traps the heat at the surface, leading to temperatures as high as 471 degree Celsius.
- The phenomenon causing the scorching heat is called a “heat dome.” Hot air is trapped by high-pressure fronts, and as it is pushed back to the ground, it heats up even more.
- The condition also prevents clouds from forming, allowing for more radiation from the sun to hit the ground.
Heat Wave:
- A heat wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that lasts for more than two days.
- Heat waves typically occur between May and June, and in some rare cases even extend till July.
- Heat waves can occur with or without high humidity and have the potential to cover a large area, “exposing a high number of people to hazardous heat.”
- if a person is at rest, wearing minimal clothing in a very dry room with about 10 per cent relative humidity, and is drinking water constantly (so that sweat can be produced), they can avoid overheating at temperatures as high as 46 degree Celsius.
- So as long as the body is producing sweat, which is then able to evaporate quickly, the body will be able to remain cool even under high temperatures.
- there is a limit to this, a limit called the wet-bulb temperature–that considers heat and humidity–beyond which humans cannot tolerate high temperatures.
Effects of Heat Dome:
- Those living without an air conditioner see the temperatures of their homes rising to unbearably high, leading to sudden fatalities.
- The trapping of heat can also damage crops, dry out vegetation and result in droughts.
- The sweltering heat wave will alsolead to rise in energy demand, especially electricity, leading to pushing up rates.
- The heat domes can also act as fuel to wildfires,which destroys a lot of land area in the US every year.
- Heat dome is more likely to form during La Niña years like 2021, when waters are cool in the eastern Pacific and warm in the western Pacific.
Is it all linked to climate change?
- It’s challenging to link any one specific weather event with climate change, but over time the trend is showing longer-lasting, more intense heat.
- Climate change certainly influences hot weather: It is making heat more extreme and such extreme heat will occur more frequently.
- In Russia, cities as far north as the Arctic circle broke heat records this month.
Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF
WhatsApp