Sizzling, sticky and unrelenting: That has been the expertise for a lot of the nation this summer time, together with greater than a dozen states that had report excessive humidity in July.
Final month was muggier than common for almost all of the Decrease 48. Elements of the Midwest, East Coast and mid-Atlantic areas, particularly, had been intensely humid in July, based on preliminary data compiled by researchers at Oregon State University.
Sizzling and humid situations are to be anticipated in the summertime, however warmth index values — what situations “really feel like” when humidity and air temperatures are mixed — soared nicely into the triple digits for prolonged intervals of time in locations resembling Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida final month.
Cities resembling Pittsburgh; Roanoke, Virginia; and Washington, D.C., all registered their most humid July in recorded historical past, based on figures compiled by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet, which collects and tracks knowledge on precipitation, soil temperature and different environmental situations. New York Metropolis and Raleigh, North Carolina, had their second-most-humid July, whereas humidity in Detroit and Cincinnati reached their third-highest ranges final month.
In Paducah, Kentucky, a brutal stretch of excessive warmth and humidity from July 16 to 30 set a slew of recent information for town.
“We have now reached the tip to the longest stretch of repeatedly excessive humidity that Paducah has witnessed previously 75 years,” the native department of the Nationwide Climate Service said Thursday in a post on X, including that the variety of hours at “oppressive ranges” of humidity exceeded 300% of town’s regular quantity for the month of July.
Humid days are anticipated to be extra frequent on account of local weather change, as a result of a hotter ambiance can maintain extra moisture. However past the discomfort of a sticky summer time, hovering humidity ranges pose severe threats to well being and public security.
Excessive warmth index values enhance the chance of heat-related sickness and dying, significantly amongst youngsters, older adults and people with pre-existing well being situations. A 2022 study by the nonprofit group Local weather Central discovered that the mix of excessive warmth and humidity can have an effect on the physique’s capacity to chill itself down by means of sweating.
“In lots of components of the nation and the globe, harmful warmth typically happens together with excessive humidity — and the pair of situations multiplies the well being dangers,” the researchers wrote in their analysis.
A hotter ambiance may spawn stronger storms which are able to dumping enormous quantities of rain over land, typically inflicting harmful flash flooding.
To date this 12 months, more than 3,000 flash flood warnings have been issued by the Nationwide Climate Service — the best quantity on report, based on knowledge from Iowa State College.
Catastrophic flooding final month killed at least 120 people in central Texas’ Hill Nation area, whereas a number of rounds of storms inundated components of New Mexico a number of occasions within the span of some weeks in July. On Thursday, proper on the finish of the month, intense storms pummeled New York City and the encompassing tristate space, wreaking havoc throughout folks’s night commute.
