"The climate impacts you hear about most often, from sea-level rise to drought to wildfires, are all second-order effects of a hotter planet. The first-order effect is heat. It is the engine of planetary chaos, the invisible force that melts the ice sheets that will flood coastal cities around the world. It dries out the soil and sucks the moisture out of trees until they are ready to ignite." Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone Magazine
A third heatwave in Mexico has expanded deadly heat to Texas and Louisiana. The heatwave has already killed multiple people in Mexico and hospitalized hundreds more with burns, strokes, and dehydration, per Prensa Latina's report. The General Directorate of Epidemiology (DGE) has found that it is 25-44-year-olds that have suffered the most hospitalizations at 69%. No reason was provided as to why. The extreme heat is not going anywhere soon in Mexico.
The National Meteorological Service (SMN) on Wednesday forecasts temperatures above 45 °C in Sinaloa, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.
The third heat wave will severely affect the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Guerrero, Morelos, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche and Yucatan with temperatures of 40 to 45 °C.
In addition, other states will have maximum temperatures of 35 to 40°C, such as Baja California, Baja California Sur, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Queretaro, State of Mexico (southwest), Puebla and Quintana Roo. In Mexico City and the State of Mexico, temperatures of up to 34 °C are expected.
During the rest of the week, the third heat wave will continue across the country with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in 26 states, specialists summarized.
Forecasters in the United States have now warned that the extreme heat has expanded into Texas and Louisana, with heat index numbers reaching up to 115 degrees so far. To the South, the heat will expand into Central America.
Matthew Capuuci writes in the Washington Post (free article):
The largest state in the Lower 48 is facing a slew of weather hazards this week, ranging from large hail and tornadoes to dangerous heat and sweltering humidity. Heat indexes could top 115 degrees in the coming days across South Texas, while severe thunderstorms rage across the northern half of Texas and threaten a number of major cities, including Dallas and Fort Worth.
Hail the size of softballs on Sunday pummeled Flower Mound in Denton County, Tex., located in the northern stretches of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex along Grapevine Lake. A sheriff’s deputy reported a possible rain-wrapped tornado farther west in Jones County near Stamford, and more severe weather is in the offing Monday.
In Houston, the fourth-most-populous city in the United States, heat indexes could range between 105 and 110 degrees for most of the week.
The state of Texas has been divided lately, meteorologically speaking. A stalled front has reached west to east across the state, dividing a more sultry, soupy air mass to the south from drier, cooler continental air to the north. Disturbances surfing an active jet stream have triggered repeating rounds of storms to erupt along this front — and with strong winds in the upper atmosphere, many have proved strong to severe.
In addition to storms Sunday that developed over Central Texas around Interstate 35, a pair of more discrete, isolated rotating supercells materialized in the Texas Panhandle. One particularly sculpted storm spun ominously near the town of Tulia, basking in the resplendent peachy hues of sunset. Its rotating updraft, a column of spin marking where air spirals inward and upward, is readily visible as a photographic centerpiece.
Overnight temperatures in affected areas will be above 80 degrees. Bodies can not cool down in those temperatures. If you are in the impacted region, leave out water and treats for the wild critters. They don’t have access to air conditioning.
The game I'm seeing today is "let's blame someone."* The far right.* The billionaires.* Capitalism.* Environmentalists who stopped nuclear power.* Shell & ExxonBlame is a coping mechanism for anger, but at least it's not denial. Our grieving is just getting started.Meanwhile, a school of Menhaden had the misfortune of swimming into a hot water patch in the Gulf of Mexico, which had a low dissolved oxygen event known as hypoxia.
Climate Central has done us all a favor by creating a U.S. Climate Shift Index ™ Map. You may want to bookmark the link as well as the article.
Daily maximum temperatures during the height of this event (between June 15 and 17) are expected to reach Climate Shift Index (CSI) levels of 5 across the region, including Guatemala, northeastern, central and southern Mexico, large swaths of western, central, and southern Texas, and southwestern Louisiana. Level 5 indicates that human-caused climate change made this excessive heat at least 5 times more likely.
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Texas power utility ERCOT is forecasting demand near capacity levels on Friday, June 17. Residents should develop a preparedness plan in the event of a localized power failure.
For more information on heat and the related human health implications refer to our Climate Matters brief, More Risky Heat Days in 232 U.S. Locations, which found a significant increase in annual days above local risky heat thresholds in several Texas cities. Austin now experiences 53 more risky heat days per year than in 1970. McAllen and Houston now experience 52 and 51 more risky heat days, respectively, than in 1970.
"Human caused climate change made the extreme and extremely unusual temperatures in Mexico and the southern US much more likely. Heat this intense, this early in the year will create stressful conditions for millions of people." - Dr. Andrew Pershing, vice president for science, Climate Central
For those affected, the diary will likely have many comments on staying cool without electricity due to a power outage of the GQP and Governor Abbot's vulnerable grid. Stay safe.