The long-watch of Erin underway as heat still bubbles

August marches on in its special kind of heightened weather monotony. There are big things happening, or threatening to do so, but the pattern is slow to shift so changes day-to-day can be somewhat minor.

Weather watch

Erin wandering westward. Tropical Storm Erin had sustained winds of 45 mph at 5 a.m. this morning. Slow to get its act together thus far, thanks to dry air intrusion among other things, strengthening is likely to pick up over the next day or so with it forecast to become a hurricane early Friday. The storm is still favored to turn north and eventually northeast between Bermuda and the East Coast.

Hot, hot, hot. Extreme heat warnings were extended through Wednesday in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and other parts of the Desert Southwest as temperatures in the Pacific Northwest begin to ease after several days of intense heat there. Fire danger may rise in the Great Basin as odds of dry lightning and higher wind increase. Across the Northeast U.S., heat is past peak in New England following a second day of records there on Tuesday, but another day of unusually high temperatures is on tap.

Lightning links

"Glacial outburst" flooding threat prompts disaster declaration in Alaska. (CBS News)

An Alaskan glacier is bursting. Can new barriers block the flood? (Josh Partlow, The Washington Post)

Two killed in European wildfires as heatwave intensifies. (Agence France Presse)

Extreme heat is threatening tropical birds, even in untouched forests, scientists warn. (Lex Harvey, CNN)

A week of temperature extremes

Death Valley hit 124 on Monday and it was 123 in Stovepipe Wells on Tuesday. The high mark of the year remains 124, with the prior instance on July 14 also in Death Valley.

On Monday it also hit 25 in Peter Sinks, a hole in the ground at high elevation in Utah. But that paled in comparison to the value there a few days prior.

It fell to 14 in America’s favorite sink hole on Saturday, which is among the coldest temperatures recorded in any summer (June-August) month since 2011, per Weather Prediction Center data.

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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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