A heat dome will send temperatures into the triple-digits across the West as fires burn | CNN
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Searing heat and fire danger will quickly ramp up as a summerlike heat dome parks over the region and makes it feel like July.

Daily temperature records will tumble as sizzling early season heat from a summerlike heat dome sends thermometers skyrocketing into the triple digits in parts of California and the West this week.

The official start of summer is just a few weeks away, but it will feel like July in much of the West as temperatures climb 20 degrees or more above average, the highest temperatures of the year so far for many locations.

Excessive heat warnings are in effect for more than 17 million people in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona this week. The warnings are the most extreme form of heat alert issued by the National Weather Service and are used when widespread, dangerous heat is expected.

The soaring temperatures are being caused by a heat dome, a large area of high pressure that parks over an area, traps air and heats it with abundant sunshine for days or weeks. The resulting heat becomes more intense the longer a heat dome lasts.

  • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
    112·
    6 months ago

    They survived multiple giant asteroid strikes already. The issue is habitability for humans, but the planet itself is not in danger.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
      48·
      6 months ago

      That’s sort of like saying, yes all human and most animal and plant life will perish in a horrible and entirely preventable human-made catastrophe, but the rocks will be okay.

      I mean, it’s a lot like saying that. Which - yeah, okay.

      • pearsaltchocolatebar
        9·
        6 months ago

        Once humans stop dumping green house gasses into the environment (after we’re dead), nature will correct itself. The earth has been through several mass extinction events, and keeps on recovering.

        Microorganisms will survive, at the very least, so life on the planet will keep on trucking.

        • Optional@lemmy.world
          12·
          6 months ago

          Sure, sure. Cause for celebration. It’s all gonna be fine. For many, or at least some, microorganisms. The self-inflicted fiery cataclysm that kills everything else - not such a big deal after all.

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
        63·
        6 months ago

        That is what would happen. What won’t happen is “the planet dying” like you claimed above and don’t seem to grasp.

        • Optional@lemmy.world
          23·
          6 months ago

          ‘’don’t seem to grasp”? Fuck you. You goddamned prick who the fuck are you - king of expressions? Don’t seem to grasp. Fucking pinheaded shit-for-brains idiot.