Michael Snyder (Opinion) -What we are witnessing right now is not even close to “normal”. I know that I have been making a lot of statements like that lately, but it is undeniable that some very strange things are happening. For example, over the past couple of years I have been consistently warning that global weather patterns were starting to go completely nuts, and at first there were some people that didn’t believe me. But now nobody can deny that global weather patterns have become really, really weird.
At this moment, the Northwest is being slammed by a “heat dome” that is absolutely unprecedented. In the past, there have been times when the weather has gotten really hot and a city or two may set a new high temperature record for a particular date, but this week we are seeing city after city shatter their all-time records for hottest temperature ever recorded on any date. We have never seen anything like this before, and hopefully this does not become “the new normal”.
The following are 14 astonishing facts about the blistering heatwave that is absolutely frying the Northwest right now…
#1 According to CBS News, this heatwave is “more rare than a once in a 1,000 year event”…
The heat wave baking the U.S. Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Canada, is of an intensity never recorded by modern humans. By one measure it is more rare than a once in a 1,000 year event — which means that if you could live in this particular spot for 1,000 years, you’d likely only experience a heat dome like this once, if ever.
#2 CBS News Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli is reporting that there is only a “1/10,000+ chance” that a heat dome of this magnitude could form over the Northwest…
To put climate extremes into perspective we measure against the average. The sigma is the standard deviation of a normal distribution of expected values. In this case the heat dome sigma max is 4.4 – that means it’s outside of 99.99% of expected values or a 1/10,000+ chance
#3 The hottest temperature ever recorded in Portland, Oregon prior to this heatwave was 107 degrees. On Saturday, the high temperature in the city was 108.
Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of 5 books including his latest, Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” which is available on Amazon.com. He has four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. Michael allows others to republish his work on other websites because he feels people need hope more than ever before, and its his goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.