Heatwave

[Joel Wright]

Absolutely terrible outside right now. 100/74 at the Moline airport producing a heat index of 112. With the trough closing in and evening approaching I wouldn't be surprised to see dewpoints approach 80 in a few spots this evening.

If you want to go swimming in northern IL, just walk outside lol.

 

[David Wolfson]

... and in Great Britain British heatwave

Britain could soon swelter in the highest temperatures ever recorded, weather forecasters said, with a 30 percent chance that Wednesday will become the country's hottest day ever.

Temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius are expected in southeast England and forecasters at Britain's Meteorological Office say one or two areas could experience 39 C (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit). [/b]

 

[Karen Politte]

... and in Great Britain British heatwave
[/b]

This scares me - this, and seeing my hometown forecast to get up to 86oF in the centre of Scotland tomorrow. People start dying over there under those conditions - and they will. Nobody has A/C - they haven't needed it up until this year when global warming has apparently fully reared its ugly head. I don't think we'll be seeing another "cool-cycle" for this poor planet - and I don't think we're in a "hot-cycle".

What else could we expect, I guess, in a summer after such a hot, dry spring? That death ridge was setting up well before some of us were even on chase vacation......so it was screaming "look out!" for the summer already.

KL

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

MODS: Suggest renaming thread title to "Heatwave" or "Excessive Heat"

Originally posted by NWSFOOUN

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
305 PM CDT TUE JUL 18 2006

.DISCUSSION...
PERSISTENCE OF NEAR RECORD HEAT ALONG WITH NUMEROUS REPORTS OF HEAT
RELATED MEDICAL CALLS (23 MONDAY ACCORDING TO EMSA) AND RECENTLY 2
CONFIRMED HEAT RELATED FATALITIES IN OKLAHOMA COUNTY WARRANTS
UPGRADING THE HEAT ADVISORY TO AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING. THIS LEVEL
OF HEAT IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH AT LEAST THURSDAY...POSSIBLY
FRIDAY...BEFORE A COLD FRONT COMES THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT OR
SATURDAY...ACCOMPANIED BY COOLER TEMPS AND A CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS.

 

[Angie Norris]

The max in Norman today was 109, while it was "just" 106 up in OKC. I'm surprized that so far there's only been 2 heat related fatalities. They were elderly, one did not have a working air conditioner and the other one had an air conditioner but it apparently was not turned on. I'd imagine that this is just the beginning of some tragic events.

 

[Karen Politte]

Makes me wonder why OUN didn't issue their "Excessive Heat Warnings" well before now......sorta like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. I noticed that Tulsa's had this type of warning in effect for at least the past 48 hours. I wish they'd standardize things......at least for places in the roughly same geographical area and that they know will be facing the exact same heat problems.

Kinda makes me glad that we "only" got up to 100 today.

Wait......did I just say that?



KL

 

[PAULTOWNSEND]

On Monday we hit a high of 96 and a dewpoint high of 79, with a heat index high of 108 :wacko:
Managed to pick up 0.03" of rain too :lol: Up to the grand total of 0.12" in July. Have only received 2.03" of rain in the last 53 days...normal during that time is about 7.50" to 8.00" so the drought and heat has expanded into eastern Wisconsin as well. The last 3 summers have been excessively dry here.

 

[Rob Satkus]

Makes me wonder why OUN didn't issue their "Excessive Heat Warnings" well before now......sorta like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. I noticed that Tulsa's had this type of warning in effect for at least the past 48 hours. I wish they'd standardize things......at least for places in the roughly same geographical area and that they know will be facing the exact same heat problems.

[/b]

Dewpoints have been running alot higher in the TUL area thanks in part to the 3-4" of rain that fell last week. Heat indices there have been near 115°...not as high in central OK where dewpoints have been mixing out into the 50's during the afternoon, leaving air temp and heat index about the same, which according to the forecast discussion from earlier, have been running just below the Excessive Heat Warning criteria. As far as I know, both places use the same criteria, things are just more miserable around TUL thanks to the humidity.

Rob

 

[Jeff Snyder]

As far as I know, both places use the same criteria, things are just more miserable around TUL thanks to the humidity.

Rob
[/b]

Yeah, and from the sounds of the AFD this afternoon, the main reason for the upgrade from the advisory to the warning for the OUN CWA is due to the large number of heat-related calls to EMSA and the two heat-related fatalities that occurred in the past couple of days. The temperatures are increasing (relative to the past few days), but decreasing dewpoints are leading to areas where the heat index is lower (sometimes by nearly 3-4F) than the ambient temperature. On the other hand, as Rob noted, dewpoints have been staying higher east of I35 (largely owing to vegetation and precipitation), leading to lower temperatures than areas farther west, but also leading to higher heat index temperatures.

 

[Sarah Norris]

The temperatures as Karen said are set to rise in Britian today too. The max temp they are prediciting today is 38deg C (101F) in the south and the midlands of UK. Ok so not as hot as you guys have it but we just aren't use ot it over here. No where has air-con units and the elderly really suffer. My office at work got to 33C yesterday afternoon and that is far to hot to sit and work in.

Its not really something new though. In August 2003 the last UK record of 38.5C (101.3F) was set in kent in south england and that summer lots of people across europe died. I don't know how many but this article from new scientist say 35,000.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4259

lets just hope its not that bad again in the next couple of days and people read the warnings.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

FYI:

The max in Norman today was 109, while it was "just" 106 up in OKC.[/b]

Norman's ASOS is out of whack when it comes to temperature. For a much better reading, check the OK mesonet. From experience, it seems Norman's ASOS runs about 5-7 degrees F warm. Mesonet had a high of 102-103 today. The one time you do need to take care in using mesonet temperature obs is when there is no wind. Mesonet temperature sensors are not aspirated like teh ASOS.

Aaron

 

[Karen Politte]

Yeah, and from the sounds of the AFD this afternoon, the main reason for the upgrade from the advisory to the warning for the OUN CWA is due to the large number of heat-related calls to EMSA and the two heat-related fatalities that occurred in the past couple of days.
[/b]

Hmmmmm......which suggests to me that the upgrade to the warning came out more than a little too late from OUN, no? If that had been a TOR warning......it would have failed on it's arse! :lol:

I really can't believe how pedantic some places are when it comes to temperatures. Like 105oF is any better for you than 115oF? If it's over 100 - it's over 100 - and it's %^&*ing hot......towards the point of posing significant health issues.

KL

 

[David Wolfson]

Not to mention that London is 15 degrees latitude farther north than OKC and gets considerably more sun this time of year. As we Aridzonians well know the combination of 100F+ heat with sunshine is especially hard on those who must be outside.

 

[Rob Satkus]

Hmmmmm......which suggests to me that the upgrade to the warning came out more than a little too late from OUN, no? If that had been a TOR warning......it would have failed on it's arse! :lol:

I really can't believe how pedantic some places are when it comes to temperatures. Like 105oF is any better for you than 115oF? If it's over 100 - it's over 100 - and it's %^&*ing hot......towards the point of posing significant health issues.

KL
[/b]

I would much rather deal with 105°...I can still function in that...115° is a huge difference. And a lot has to do with where you are. These type of temps in OK quite frankly aren't that unusual and most people around here can deal with it better than say, someone in Michigan or New Yawk.
I really don't think that if OUN had put out a heat warning earlier it would have made any difference...I don't know the details of the deaths, but people don't react to a heat warning like they would a tornado warning. Many times it's the elderly and infirm who die in houses with no ac and windows closed to keep the neighborhood "element" out...no warning will change that. And really, just how much hand holding can the wx service do? It's nothing like a tornado warning..most people can't look at a storm and know if there is a tornado or not..but EVERYONE can step outside and know it %$#@&*^ hot, but to often people decide they can take it..I'm gonna mow the lawn or sit in the sun and drink beer all day, or go to a ball game and sit in the sun for 3 hours with no water even tho I weigh 300 lbs....it won't affect me.
Anyway, the heat is making me irritable so I will shut up now.
This ain't nothin' like 1980...now THAT was a heat wave!

Rob

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

<span style="color:#CC0000">ALL TIME RECORD HIGH FOR STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
120* ALVA, OK 1938


^correct me if im wrong on that there but i do believe that is correct.