The heat wave here in DC, nothing like the heat dome effects of the Southwest and Northwest, has actually broken. So I did not have a hot, sleepless night. Merely a sleepless one.
Still, our early and exceptional heat wave coupled with news about the western heat waves and correspondence with a friend in my childhood home turf about a heat wave in Upstate New York brought my insomniac attention to the issue of overnight temperatures.
I did a search for some news on it, and found something adjacent to where my friend was that corroborated his experience: the heat waves beyond the heat dome have been hot at night too. Which can be dangerous.
As I looked down my search results, I was jolted further awake by seeing repeated reporting on this going back over the decade:
- Record-breaking overnight temperatures could make heat wave deadly for cities — 2019
- Nights Are Warming Faster Than Days. Here’s Why That’s Dangerous. — 2018
- Hottest Night in Recorded History Just Logged in Oman — 2018
- Summer Nights Are Getting Hotter. Here’s Why That’s a Health and Wildfire Risk. — 2018
- Overnight heat can be more deadly than daytime
- …
- Record Warm Nighttime Temperatures: A Closer Look — 2011
It is overwhelming, how much time we have wasted.