Heat Bubble

The weather guessers are at it again, the last week has been a flurry of activity about a heat bubble in our region. I cannot recall ever hearing this terminology before, so I went looking. Apparently heat bubble is not entirely new to concept to forecasters and is called by many names.

From a article from the New York Times:

“Everybody talks about the weather, but I guess TV meteorologists have to do it more cleverly,” said Jay Trobec, a weatherman at KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, S.D., as he sought to explain why the phrase “heat dome” is suddenly being heard and seen everywhere.

“I could call it Heatmageddon, but we just had Carmageddon,” he added, referring to last weekend’s freeway closing in Los Angeles.

Heat dome — the condition tormenting the middle and eastern parts of the country this week — is not a standard scientific label, but it has been used sporadically over the years to describe sprawling high-pressure systems in the mid- to upper atmosphere that push warming air to the surface and hold it there.

This article was dated TEN YEARS ago!

So now we are calling it a heat bubble here in the Northwest. Our Oregon Department of Forestry fire danger signs that were just put up are already jumping to more serious levels thereby alerting those working, living or spending time in nature with  recreational pursuits.

The gush of rain we had a couple of weeks ago seems a distant memory and we are experiencing 100 plus degree temperatures even here on the farm right next to the river. Looks like the hay fields will not be bouncing back with new growth after harvest like they did last year.

This heat bubble is expected to last through at least this week with sever temperatures moderating as time goes by.