since when are "heat domes" a thing?

[0rganism]

i think this is the first i have ever heard of a goddam "heat dome" ravaging a large portion of North America.

for some reason, i don't think it will be the last.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. It's an air pressure phenomenon, not new, but this particular one is brutal!

Basically, it's a high pressure air mass that traps and, unfortunately, circulates hot air like a convection oven. If you're in the city, it's way worse.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. At least fifteen years here in Texas

Hot, dry weather lasting for days or weeks or longer, rain-bearing rain clouds shifting away to the north or south. Heat domes have been part of our weather patterns for years. I fear that the fossil fuel climate deniers’ club might have helped expand the size of the domes this year.

[msongs]

3. in the old days it was just called a heat wave. it came, it went nt

[ProudLib72]

4. Just wait until the next dust bowl starts

Then you will really have something to complain about.

You can read about the depletion of the Ogallala aquifer here: http://duwaterlawreview.com/crisis-on-the-high-plains-the-loss-of-americas-largest-aquifer-the-ogallala/

[NutmegYankee]

5. Not new. Happens every summer, just not in the same places.

The dome name comes from a 500mb heights weather chart, which measures the height in the atmosphere that hits 500mb (roughly half the atmosphere thickness). The heat domes in 2012 were absolutely brutal.

[Golden Raisin]

6. Just glad they're not naming them yet,

like hurricanes. And here in the Northeast the Weather Channel has started naming snowstorms too.

[MuseRider]

7. You mean you can't relate to someone

complaining about Heat Dome Samantha? It is possibly one of the dumbest things I have ever heard of, naming every kind of storm. I mean really, are we not smart enough to just have a tornado without a name and remember it?

Heat Dome Harvey next up in the Texas panhandle!