Heat Wave is Baking the Northern Rockies


A brutal summer across the western United States and Canada hit the Northern Rockies this weekend, with temperatures reaching the high 90s and below 100s, with a heatwave expected to peak on Monday but expected to ease slightly over the course of the week. .

It was the fourth major heatwave to hit parts of the West since early June, bringing dangerously high temperatures and helping fuel the country. deepening drought and exploding forest fires throughout the region.

An extreme temperature warning will be in effect in parts of Montana until Tuesday night. According to the National Weather Service. Billings in the state’s south is forecast to reach 106 on Monday, and Glasgow, a town to the north, is expected to reach 107. Livingston, Big Timber and Sheridan It could reach 100 on Monday. As the week progresses, temperatures will drop by just a few degrees, providing minimal relief from the sweltering heat.

Salt Lake city hit 104 degrees on SundayMeteorologists connecting the daily record set in 1960; The city has reached 100 degrees or higher for the 17th time this year. monsoon rain expected It continued to spread northward across all of Utah and southwestern Wyoming on Monday, bringing some relief to parts of the region.

Several areas around Boise, Idaho, hit 100 degrees on Sunday, and meteorologists forecast Cloud cover and the likelihood of thunderstorms will increase from Monday to Wednesday, which could lower maximum temperatures by a few degrees.

Rising temperatures have made wildfire season particularly dangerous. A rapidly spreading wildfire Just south of Lake Tahoe The blast, which exploded in California over the weekend, caused several residential areas to be evacuated.

Windy, dry conditions fueled the growth of the Oregon Bootleg fire over the weekend, leading to an increase in evacuations. The fire, the largest of dozens of fires in the USA, broke out. More than 300,000 acres burned in southwestern Oregon and contains 25 percent. The size of the fire is about 467 square miles, or roughly the size of Los Angeles. fire officials said.

“The weather is really against us,” said John Flannigan, chief of operations. said at a press conference on Sunday. “It will be hot, it will be dry, and the air will be unstable, which helps the temperature rise faster, which brings in more air. Everything negative for firefighters and positive for fire.”

Triple-digit temperatures scorching the Pacific Northwest in late June and early July killed hundreds in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. event, result a heat domeAccording to one research team, it would be nearly impossible without climate change.

As for forest fires spreading west, half started by lightning and half are caused by humans. They are often started by power lines, cigarettes, cars, campfires, or arson.

In recent years, there has been an abundance of very dry fuel. Drought and high heat can kill trees and dry up dead grass, pine needles and other materials that act as kindling when a fire sweeps the forest at the bottom of the forest floor.

Wildfire experts see the signature of climate change in the dryness, high temperature and longer fire season making these fires more extreme.





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