Yesterday was the hottest day here in the Chicago area, hitting 94 degrees without a heat index figured in. 
Chicago this summer experienced over 85 days of 80 plus degrees. That is 54 more days of 80 plus temperatures than in 2009. The Chicago area is not alone this year in experiencing one of the hottest summers in over 100 years. 2010 has set new heat records for 17 countries, and for the entire northeastern part of the U.S. From Washington, D.C. to Maine every past heat record was broken. Preliminary figures provided by the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University on Friday show 28 cities from Washington, D.C., to Caribou, Maine, set record highs for average temperature from March through August. A large swath of the country sweltered in early August, when scorching temperatures and high humidity made it feel like at least 100 degrees in many places and prompted heat advisories for 18 states. While unrelenting heat is the norm in the Deep South, it’s unusual in places like Burlington, Vt., and Portland, Maine, which saw their hottest spring and summer in more than a century. According to meteorologists the temperatures seen this summer are consistent with a global pattern of severe heat related weather. Weather patterns have only been kept track since the late 1800’s, and our knowledge of long-term weather patterns is fairly nascent. But, there is one-heat correlation scientists have been able to ascertain from pulling past weather data out of drilled artic ice: when the earth’s atmosphere contains higher levels of CO2, there are then higher heat temperatures.
Photo Credit: BBC, UK
Recent Comments