If the preliminary results are correct, they mean that the heat wave would have been at least 150 times rarer before global warming.
A new NOAA study in the Journal of Climate warns that in the already warm and frequently dry southern Great Plains and Southwest, climate change will make compound heat-wave and drought events significantly hotter than they used to be.
With the Mid-Atlantic region expecting a stretch of days with above-normal summer temperatures, NOAA and its partners will lead a group of citizen scientist volunteers on a mission this week to collect data that will be used to map the hottest places in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.
Summer is finally here, and that means families all over the country are starting to fire up the barbecue grill and open up their beach chairs. But summertime also means hot weather — sometimes dangerously hot.