Drought, record heat in West bear climate change’s fingerprints – Axios

The prolonged and widespread heat wave in the West, along with the region’s increasingly severe drought, is a sign of how climate change has already tilted the odds in favor of such extremes, studies show.

Why it matters: The rapidly growing Southwest, in particular, is also the nation’s fastest-warming region. The combination of heat and drought could lead to a repeat, or even eclipse, the severity of 2020’s wildfire season in California and other states.

State of play: Temperatures are likely to climb well into the triple digits across most of California through the weekend, and in a half-dozen Western states.

• Records will keep falling. By the end of this particular heat wave, it’s likely that they will tally in the hundreds, with several all-time temperature records tied or broken well before what is typically the hottest time of year.

The other side: While the West is dealing with record heat and drought, the eastern U.S. will see the opposite problem — too much water, as a tropical depression or possibly a named storm, to be called “Claudette,” comes ashore along the Gulf Coast.

via www.axios.com

I don’t know about no climate change, but it shore is toasty.