A heat dome is caused when atmosphere traps hot ocean air, as if bounded by a lid or cap. The upper air weather patterns are slow to move, referred to by

meteorologists A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

as an

Omega block Blocks in meteorology are large-scale patterns in the atmospheric pressure field that are nearly stationary, effectively "blocking" or redirecting migratory cyclones. They are also known as blocking highs or blocking anticyclones.Glossary of Mete ...

Creation of heat domes

500-mb pressure chart 2021-06-28 700EST Heat dome Pacific NW

In still, dry summer conditions, a mass of warm air builds up. The

high pressure In science and engineering the study of high pressure examines its effects on materials and the design and construction of devices, such as a diamond anvil cell, which can create high pressure. By ''high pressure'' is usually meant pressures of th ...

from the Earth's atmosphere pushes the warm air down. The air is compressed, and as its net heat is now in a smaller volume, so it must get hotter. As the warm air attempts to rise, the high pressure above it forces it down, to get hotter, and its

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...

grows higher. The high pressure acts as a dome, causing everything below it to get hotter and hotter. The term is often extrapolated in the media terminology for any heat wave situation. The term heat dome is also used in the context of urban heat islands.

Examples

In chronological order, *

2012 North American heat wave The Summer 2012 North American heat wave was one of the most severe heat waves in modern North American history. It resulted in more than 82 heat-related deaths across the United States and Canada, and an additional twenty-two people died in the ...

2018 North American heat wave The 2018 North American heat wave affected regions of Canada, where at least 70 deaths in Quebec were heat-related, the United States, where 18 states between Michigan and New Mexico issued heat advisories to a population of over 60 million people ...

* 2019 Alaska heat wave * 2021 Russia heatwave * 2021 British Columbia wildfires *

2021 Western North America heat wave The 2021 Western North America heat wave was an extreme heat wave that affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. Rapid attribution analysis found this was a 1000-year weather event, made 150 times more likely ...

References

External links and references

What is a Heat Dome?—Scientific American

BBC reference

sky.com reference

telegraph.co.uk reference

severe-weather.eu/ on heat domes

YouTube reference
Atmospheric dynamics Meteorological phenomena {{weather-stub

Creation of heat domes

Examples

See also

References

External links and references