Record Heat And Heavy Rain – National Weather Outlook For June 5, 2021

National Weather Forecast

As we head through the first Saturday of June, we will see a frontal boundary in the Northern Plains/Upper Midwest producing some showers and storms, some of which could be strong. A system approaching the Northeast from Canada will produce storms in New England. Isolated storms will be possible across the Deep South and Southeast, particularly in the lower Mississippi Valley, and in the Rockies. A front in the Northwest will produce some rain and higher elevation rain/snow showers.

Several record highs are expected to be broken across the Upper Midwest and Northeast as we head through Saturday. Highs on Saturday will be warmer across a good portion of the upper Midwest vs. areas in the Southern Plains.

The heaviest rain from Friday through Sunday will be in areas that do not need more rain – portions of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, where an additional 3”+ of rain could fall.

Through Thursday, areas like Houston and Lake Charles have already picked up at least 2-3 feet of rain so far this year, a good chunk of that falling during the month of May. New Orleans has received over 42” of rain so far in 2021 – 17.32” above average and their third wettest start to the year on record.

_______________________________________________

10% of the World’s Sequoias Burned in a Single Wildfire Last Year

More from Earther: “The climate crisis has put sequoias on a dangerous path. A draft report from the National Park Service indicates that 10% of the largest trees in the world were wiped out in last year’s Castle Fire. Sequoias can live for thousands of years. Trees alive today are our connections to deep time. As Christianity rose, the Han Dynasty collapsed, and countless other human activities proliferated around the world, sequoias still alive today silently rose to towering heights in isolated pockets of California’s Sierra Nevada. To stand in the shadow of a giant sequoia is to feel the heft of history drape over you. Yet humanity’s most lasting legacy, which began during the Industrial Revolution, might be contributing to their downfall. Climate change coupled with a freak August lightning storm lit the Castle Fire. It was one of a number of explosive wildfires that stretched California’s fire resources to the brink in 2020. The firestorm caused widespread destruction, and the new draft report, shared with the Visalia Times Delta, shows we’re still getting a handle on just how much we’ve lost.”

Polar vortex, winter heat may change bird populations

More from the University of Wisconsin-Madison: “For birds and other wildlife, winter is a time of resource scarcity. Extreme winter weather events such as a polar vortex can push some species to the edge of survival. Yet winter tends to get short shrift in climate change research, according to UW–Madison forest and wildlife ecology Professor Ben Zuckerberg. “When we think about the impact of climate change, winter tends to be overlooked as a time of year that could have significant ecological and biological implications,” says Zuckerberg. “It makes me, and my colleagues, think quite deeply about the impacts of these extreme events during this time when species are particularly vulnerable.””

Are wind farms slowing each other down?

More from HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM HEREON: “More and more countries are promoting the expansion of wind farms at sea to support the transformation towards a carbon neutral energy production. However, if these offshore wind farms are set up close to each other, wind energy and hence electricity yield is reduced. A study by the Helmholtz Center Hereon, which has now been published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, shows that the losses with increasing offshore wind energy production will be considerable and detectable as large scale pattern of reduced wind speed around wind farms.”

_______________________________________________

Thanks for checking in and have a great day! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) and like me on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser).

– D.J. Kayser