“Heat waves don’t make headlines until the morgues fill up,” wrote public health expert Dr. Kristie Ebi. Heat is a silent killer, claiming far more lives across the U.S. every year than hurricanes, tornadoes and even floods. Heat isn’t as dramatic as a tornado funnel or battering waves. It sneaks up on victims. The old, the very young and people with medical conditions are most at risk.
NOAA reports straight-line winds are responsible for at least half of wind-related damage and many more injury and fatality reports than tornadoes. Friday night’s derecho up north sparked 106 mph straight-line wind gusts in Bemidji, as strong as an EF-1 tornado. Yikes.
One more day of blast-furnace heat Sunday with a shot at 100 degrees in some towns before a cooler front Monday sparks more T-storms. A stalled frontal boundary may wring out another 1 to 3 inches of rain Wednesday and Thursday. I see mostly 80s into early July. Warm, but not scorching.
Going way out on a limb, long-range models show 80s and T-storms on the Fourth of July. I’m shocked.
