The weather can be hard to predict at times, and this year has been no exception.
As crews battle wildfires on Canada’s Atlantic coast that have caused thousands of people to evacuate, hundreds of homes have already been reported damaged. Travelers to Canada saw flight delays as they tried to return home.
Farther up Canada’s Pacific coast, thick plumes of smoke from those fires from the Canadian province of Alberta crossed into several US states as far away as Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado.
As quickly as the fires arrived, it looks like rain will pour into parts of Alberta caused by a cold front from the Pacific. Authorities and residents hope the rain will douse the flames and the winds will blow the smoke away.
By Tuesday, the National Weather Service was issuing advisories for various parts of the United States, including parts of western Kansas in the Midwest and north Texas warning of severe afternoon and evening thunderstorms.
The NWS raised its risk level for these areas to “enhanced,” especially in Garden City and Liberal, Kansas, and in Guymon, Oklahoma.
Portions of southwestern Nebraska and eastern Colorado were expected to have possible thunderstorm wind gusts that could reach 75 mph in parts of the central and southern High Plains region.
Isolated hail and dry microbursts of precipitation were also expected for those areas where travelers often pass by car or plane.
The US Department of Commerce warned there could be a 40% chance of above-average temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean in 2023, where much of the country’s trade occurs. Meanwhile, NOAA has already forecast a “near normal” hurricane season this year.
This year’s Atlantic hurricane season will run from June 1 through November 30.
In Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, communities still reeling from Category 5 Hurricane Ian are awaiting a possible area of low pressure that the National Hurricane Center says has a 10-20% chance of forming a tropical storm this week. It was unclear what damage that would do to recovery efforts in hard-hit Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
Hundreds of residents in parts of South Florida were left homeless when Hurricane Ian hit the US coast eight months ago.
Forecasters already expect this summer to bring sweltering heat. Judson Jones of the New York Times said many factors come into play. Soil moisture and ocean temperatures may play a role.
He says meteorologists consider conditions on land, in the water, and in the atmosphere to predict the forecast. Jones says the predictions don’t show parts of the northern US being hotter than parts of the south, but they do point to how the chance of an “extra-hot summer” is greater this year in Arizona than it is. in Michigan.
Forecasters in the nation’s capital say the Washington, DC area and Mid-Atlantic region should experience tolerable heat for the most part. It would be the third consecutive summer with such a forecast for the area.
In New England, residents and travelers could see sweltering conditions during the summer months that would be a juxtaposition to some of the snowstorms experienced in those areas last winter.
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