Publication: Scientific American

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: A potentially record-setting heat wave is headed for the Pacific Northwest and western Canada, a sign of the shift to hotter — and earlier — summers.

UCLA News: The current meteorologic setup is very similar to the one that caused the infamous 2021 heat dome over this area, Swain says. Though the current ridge is occurring earlier and is centered farther north, it is still “a huge blob of essentially unprecedented atmospheric high pressure and temperatures for this time of year.” This heat wave will have lower absolute temperatures in part because the event will happen a month earlier than the 2021 heat dome. The background temperatures are still somewhat cooler.

Read more at Scientific American.