The U.S. West is still baking. The temperatures for June are into and five
Western states felt their warmest June ever and four continue to see
their warmest year-to-date very soon as 2015 hits the central spot.
In drought-plagued California, “we’re pasting the record set at the present
last year†and “not by a shaver thin margin,†Daniel Swain, a PhD student
at Stanford University, said.
The vast region of significant heat in the Pacific Ocean that has
been lynching around for two years now is one of the main drivers for the
oppressive western weather, and is getting a boost from the very healthy El
Niño event that looks to be in place through the end of the year.
These forces are also acting on the background warming that result from the
additional heat trapped in the Earth’s environment by growing greenhouse gas
levels, which increases the probability for such high temperature records.
The heat spells bad reports for the obstinate famine that is now in its
fifth year in California, as well as recently expanded drought conditions in
the Pacific Northwest, which saw a paltry winter snowpack during the
clement winter.