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.
The residents of Texas are not completely to blame. Texas has the highest rates of voter suppression in the country. Secondly, the Texas education system has been built in a way to persist the current leadership in the state. And finally, many of the people live in poverty and will likely die for what oil execs and politicians have done.
Wishing this is short sighted and is blaming the symptom and not the root cause problem.
living in austin for 5 years taught that even the bluest texans are ardently pro-establishment.
that doesn’t mean that all of them are climate deniers; but like their red brethren, they’ll fall in line and vote for a climate change denier if it means their guy gets to win.
like most of the country, they hate their choices but will fight you tooth and nail if you try to change anything for the better; don’t bother with benefit of the doubt when it comes to texans.