In the 1970s, Sacramento, the state capital, had five “extreme heat” days per year, Ullrich said. Many other locations hit record highs for September and even more set daily high marks. Temperatures hit an all-time high in Sacramento of 116 degrees (46.7 C) on Tuesday. That prevented the high-pressure system that was forcing hot air over California from moving along. The so-called heat dome that cooked California was stuck in place by an exceptional high pressure region over Greenland, of all places, that essentially created a meteorological traffic jam, said Paul Ullrich, a professor of regional climate modeling at the University of California, Davis. Scientists are reluctant to attribute any specific weather event to global warming, but say heat waves are exactly the type of changes that will become more common. “We’ll see these heat waves continue to get hotter and hotter, longer and longer, more wildfire-plagued,” said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability.Ĭalifornia is just the latest casualty in a year of sometimes deadly heat waves that began in Pakistan and India this spring and swept across parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including China, Europe and others areas of the U.S.Ĭlimate change also has exacerbated droughts, dried up rivers, made wildfires more intense and - conversely - led to massive flooding around the globe as moisture evaporating from land and water is held in the atmosphere and then redeposited by intense rains. The heat that colored weather maps dark red for more than a week in California is only a preview of coming attractions. WATCH: Climate change increasing chance of ‘mega storm’ in California, scientists sayĬlimate change is making the planet warmer, scientists say, and weather-related disasters more extreme. Relief is in sight as the remnants of a hurricane approach that will lower temperatures during the weekend but could bring another set of challenges: heavy rains that will be welcomed in the drought-plagued state but might cause flash floods. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Californians sweated it out amid a record-breaking heat wave entering its 10th day Friday that has helped fuel deadly wildfires and pushed energy supplies to the brink of daily power outages.

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