BYU-Idaho Radio · Weather News Service Interview About the Heat Wave in Eastern Idaho
Temperatures in Eastern Idaho have been hitting record highs thanks to a current heat wave.
Jack Messick from the National Weather Service Office in Pocatello said a trapped high-pressure system has compounded with sunshine for a heat wave that is setting records in the region.
“Last night we actually had some clouds move in and cloud droplets reradiate the earth’s heat in all directions,” Messick said, “ At night the heat usually escapes the atmosphere and cools us down quite a bit, but last night that didn’t happen.”
With the heat being trapped we weren’t seeing temperatures drop more than 20 degrees at night, which causes the temperatures to rise even higher the next day.
The recent forecast has shown temperatures in the high 90s and in Pocatello they have hit 100 degrees. A major heatwave has hit the west from Arizona clear up to Montana and America’s hottest region, Death Valley reached a temperature of 130 in the past week.
Messick said the current pressure is expected to move on from our region within the next 10 days and the effects of this heat wave might reach into fall.
Messick said the heat can change the landscape and the colors of it. The different colors of the landscape can, in turn, affect the temperatures. With a browner landscape region, it can cause warmer weather to last longer. He said we might have a warmer fall as a result.