#MEwx Sunny and hot again with HEAT WAVE defined

Good morning Augusta

It’s gonna be hotter ‘n hell again today out there so use your head and stay the hell out of the heat.

This morning we have mostly sunny skies and warm with highs in the upper 80s. Winds are Northwest around 10 mph.

Tonight we’ll have mostly clear skies and less humid with lows in the upper 50s. Winds will be North around 10 mph gusting to 20 mph in the evening, becoming light and variable.

The outdoor temperature is 78.6°F, the dewpoint is 73.3°F and it feels like 80.1°F.

We didn’t receive any rain here over the past 24 hours.

Sunrise is 4:57 am, sunset is 8:28 PM and we’ll have 15 hours 31 minutes of daylight today.

Moonrise is 4:32 AM,  Moonset is 9:27 PM. The moon phase is a NEW MOON and is xx% illuminated. Our next full moon will be on July 10 and our next new moon is on July 24.

The wind is from the North between 0.0 MPH and 2.2 MPH.

The Relative pressure is 29.73, the Absolute pressure is 29.53 and rising with a weather graphic indicating sun and a few clouds.

The humidity is 83%, the UV index is 1 placing the average person at low risk and the solar radiation reading is 114.9W/M2.

Visibility is 10.0 miles / 16.1 Kilometers with bright, sunny and hot skies again.

 

Heat Wave defined:

A heat wave is a period of unusually hot weather that typically lasts two or more days. To be considered a heat wave, the temperatures have to be outside the historical averages for a given area. for a given area. A couple of 95 degree summer days in Maine, for example, might be considered a heat wave, but a couple of 95 degree summer days in Death Valley would be pretty unremarkable.

For some, a heat wave might sound like an excuse to run around with a hose or into some sprinklers. In reality, though, heat waves are no laughing matter. They are serious weather phenomena that can be quite dangerous.

You see, there’s hot and then there’s HOT. One example of a HOT time was in late June and early July 2012 in the United States. During that time period, more than 8,000 warm temperature records were broken or tied. Many of these records had been unchallenged since the 1930s. Roads actually buckled in Chicago. Many deaths were attributed to the heat nationwide.

What causes a heat wave? Heat waves are generally the result of trapped air. During the 2012 heat wave, air was trapped above much of North America for a long period of time. As opposed to cycling around the globe, it simply stayed put and warmed like the air inside an oven.

The culprit? A high-pressure system from Mexico. Between June 20th and June 23rd, this system migrated north. It grew in size, and it parked itself over the Great Plains of the United States.

High-pressure systems force air downward. This force prevents air near the ground from rising. The sinking air acts like a cap. It traps warm ground air in place. Without rising air, there was no rain, and nothing to prevent the hot air from getting hotter.

But that wasn’t all. A weather pattern that normally pulls air toward the east was also weaker at the time. That meant that there was little that could be done to push this high-pressure cap out of the way.

Heat waves like this may be less exciting or dramatic than other natural disasters like tornados, hurricanes, flooding, or even thunderstorms, but heat waves kill more people in the United States than all other weather-related disasters combined.

 

You can stay safe during a heat wave with these helpful tips.

Take it easy. Slow down and avoid doing strenuous work.

Dress for the weather. Wear lightweight, light colored clothing.

Avoid high-protein foods and meat. Eating these can increase your body’s heat production.

Drink lots of water. Unless you have a condition that is affected by changing how much fluid you drink, it’s a good idea to keep as hydrated as possible.

Find an air-conditioned place to hang out. Don’t have an air conditioner of your own? Find a friend with one, or go to a public place like a library that has one.

Avoid getting too much sun. Sunburns make it harder for your body to cool off.

Be very careful in cars. Cars heat up extremely fast. You should never spend time in a parked car with windows closed, and you should always be wary of hot metal objects both inside (like seatbelt buckles) and outside the car.