Heat dome nearing peak intensity in Southwest U.S.

Heat dominates the headlines as we move deeper into August. So does fire.

This one’s on the short side — perhaps should have taken the week off for vacation, but the weather never quits.

Weather watch

Western heat. Some of the hottest weather of the year is ramping up in the West as a powerful heat dome nears peak intensity over the 4-corners region. Phoenix is under extreme heat warning while places like Denver and Albuquerque find themselves under heat advisory. Temperatures rise near 100 and as high as 120 across the zone. I’ll have more details on this later today at the Post.

Fire update. It’s not just Canada ablaze. The U.S. crossed a million acres burned this year and the National Interagency Fire Center raised the risk to Level 4 out of 5 on Tuesday. The fire situation continues to worsen in the West, where a number of large blazes are burning as the region broils and red flag warnings for fire weather are widespread.

Lightning links

Weather Service is now hiring back hundreds of positions that got cut in the DOGE chaos. (Andrew Freedman, CNN)

Hurricane Hunters set to investigate area off Southeast coast for possible tropical development. (Steven Yablonski, Emilee Speck and Julian Atienza, Fox Weather)

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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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