Should FEMA Be Able To Declare Heat Waves As A Major Disaster? AccuWeather Meteorologist Weighs In

6 months ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok discussed the heat wave roiling the U.S. and major disaster declarations.

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Transcript

00:00So a heat wave is defined as three or more days in a row of above 90 degree heat?

00:0690 or higher. 90 or higher.

00:09Another term that people are using that I've been hearing that I'm curious for you to define is a heat dome.

00:16What is a heat dome?

00:18Yeah, there are some differences here.

00:20If you go back to last year, a good example of what happened over the southern plains

00:25and the lower Mississippi Valley in the mid to late summer time period,

00:29we had an area of high pressure that sat up in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

00:34And what that high pressure does is it suppresses air.

00:38And the air that comes down warms significantly.

00:42Preceding that high, the ground was already dry from drought conditions.

00:47And so it's exasperated because of that effect of that high being there and sitting there for days and days.

00:54The heat dome is the actual feature that sits in that area for days.

00:58The heat wave is the actual readings and temperatures and the extent that it takes place.

01:03Is this a heat dome?

01:05I wouldn't classify it as one.

01:07It still doesn't look like even 2021 where they had experienced it in the northwest.

01:12Seattle and Portland had hot weather for two months in a row.

01:15But if it does sit there and doesn't go away and already comes back again in July,

01:20then we may start to consider, yes, this could be what you classify as a heat dome situation.

Should FEMA Be Able To Declare Heat Waves As A Major Disaster? AccuWeather Meteorologist Weighs In

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