Erin's waves overtake the East Coast while heat builds in West

Erin is due east of Florida, just off the northern Bahamas, this morning and it will spend the next day or so making its closest pass to the United States. As it does so, it will deliver punishing waves and some zones of tropical storm conditions. Heat is building in the Western U.S. while fires continue to scorch the Iberian Peninsula.

Weather watch

Waves emanating from Erin. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the Virginia border, then in offshore waters further north, to just south of Long Island and the Cape Cod region. Various storm surge and surf warnings are also up for much of the East Coast for sea rise of up to four feet and waves as high as 10 to 20 feet. Erin had sustained wind of 100 mph early Wednesday with a little strengthening possible over the next 24 hours.

Western heat. Most of California — plus portions of surrounding states — is under alert for heat as toasty temperatures take hold beneath a strengthening heat dome. Los Angeles is among locations with an extreme heat warning. In that sprawling city, temperatures range from the low 90s to past 100. Heat alerts stretch north to the East Bay around San Francisco, though downtown will probably remain in the 70s.

Lightning links

Heavy rains paralyse life in India's financial capital Mumbai. (Nikita Yadav, BBC India)

Explainer-Why cloudbursts have killed hundreds in Pakistan and India this monsoon season. (Saeed Shah, Rajendra Jadhav and Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Reuters)

Dramatic slowdown in melting of Arctic sea ice surprises scientists. (Damian Carrington, The Guardian)

Spain wildfires

Europe’s Copernicus ECMWF released an alarming graph of wildfire emissions in Spain rapidly running to record values over the past week.

More than a dozen blazes broke out over northwestern Spain into northern Portugal starting around Aug. 10. They quickly exploded into massive infernos overtaking wide swaths of each country.

There are about 20 significant fires ongoing at the moment.

At least four have been killed in Spain fighting the fires, where just shy of 2,000 troops are deployed to the battle, in addition to local firefighters.

Largely burning in rural areas, the cities of Leon and Castile have also observed occasionally very poor air quality from smoke.

Current estimates are that well past half a million acres have burned in the ongoing fires in both nations. Cooler and more moisture-filled air is expected to help firefighters ahead, although some of the region remains in long-term drought.

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Weekday morning newsletter by a journalist/forecaster. Connecting weather and climate change dots while occasionally stirring the pot.

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