Its summer here in Qatar but its still a cooler temperature than what’s going on in the Pacific Northwest. The heats on Canada’s west coast and down the line into the United States is record breaking. And its putting a lot of people in danger. The heat dome parked over North America has shattered records and contributed to more than 25 sudden deaths in British Columbia. Parts of the province have been as hot as California’s death-valley. The heat is melting glaciers, setting off flooding in BC. This is a part of the world that gets a lot of rain not this kind of heat so many people just don’t have AC. Rolling blackouts have been ordered in Washington and Oregon where roads are buckling and cables are actually melting under the heat. Here’s why it’s happening. 

Clare Nullis, Media Officer and Spokesperson for World Meteorological Organization said: “Normally you have the jet stream which is this vast high moving belt of wind which moves these weather systems on, it’s not happening this time.”

So, this atmospheric blocking pattern is kind of like a pressure cooker. Climate change is on scientists’ minds.

Zeke Hausfathere, Climate Scientist said: “Global warming is essentially the steroids that make what would have been a pretty big heatwave into a truly exceptional record-setting heatwave.”

And the fire season is coming. US president Joe Biden meets with western governors on Wednesday to discuss the devastating intersection of drought heat, and wild fires in the west.