An area of high pressure lingered in the upper atmosphere over the U.S. Midwest and Northeast in June 2024.
An area of high pressure lingered in the upper atmosphere over the U.S. Midwest and Northeast in June 2024. This pushed warm air toward the surface and trapped it there—a weather phenomenon meteorologists call a heat dome.
Heat domes put the brakes on convection and suppress clouds and precipitation. This allows sunlight to reach Earth’s surface relatively unhindered and further elevate air temperatures. As a result of the June heat dome, people in the Midwest and Northeast saw a string of days with sweltering temperatures that tied or broke calendar-day records in several states.
The map above shows air temperatures across the eastern U.S. on June 19, 2024. The map was produced by combining observations from satellites and other sources with temperatures predicted by a version of NASA’s GEOS (Goddard Earth Observing System) model, which uses mathematical equations to represent physical processes in the atmosphere. The darkest reds indicate temperatures of more than 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) at about 6.5 feet (2 meters) above the ground.
Boston, Massachusetts, hit 98°F and Hartford, Connecticut, reached 97°F on June 19, breaking calendar-day records, according to the National Weather Service. Manchester, New Hampshire, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, broke calendar-day records the day before. And on June 17, Chicago, Illinois; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Indianapolis, Indiana; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cleveland, Ohio; Syracuse, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, all tied or broke records.
Read more at NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: geralt via Pixabay
