8 August 2010
Heat South and Smoke North. (Europe is just the opposite!)
Posted by Dan Satterfield
Smoke covers the Canadian Prairies Saturday. NASA Aqua Satellite image. Click for super high HD resolution.
Smoke from forest fires in Western Canada has spread across much of the Canadian Prairies and well south into the U.S. British Columbia is tracking over 400 forest fires and other fires are reported in Alberta.
Smoke across the midwest USA. Image from Ray Hoff's U.S. Air Quality blog. Click to see more data.
The smoke is not only visible on satellite images across Canada but it has reached as far south as Kentucky. The smoke has pushed up air quality indexes across much of the Midwest. Those with asthma and other breathing disorders are being urged to avoid outdoor activity.
SOUTHERN HEAT
Across the Southern USA the weather story is the intense heat. Here in Huntsville we have had no rain in August in most areas. Another week of temperatures above 35C (95F) is on the way. Most areas will stay about 10 degrees above normal for August this week.
In Europe it is just the opposite. The heat and the smoke are in the North! Moscow continues to suffer though it’s hottest weather ever recorded along with thick smoke from forest fires. The smoke and smog in Moscow is so bad that it is downright dangerous to breathe!
GET USED TO IT
Something to think about. Here in the southeast USA, this kind of summer is expected to become the normal by the end of the century.
Dan
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
You say to get used to this kind of summer in the Southeastern U.S. Is it going to be worse than when the melting ice formed the Great Lakes? I believe weather continuously fluctuates. But what do I know?