Last month marked one of the warmest Junes on record in Baltimore, and continued extreme heat threatens to make the Charm City's summer a record-breaking one.
As the week begins, the next brutal heat wave has arrived. Temperatures are expected to reach triple digits on Monday and Tuesday, with high humidity bringing the heat index to 105 to 110 degrees.
Temperatures at BWI Marshall Airport have reached 100 degrees for the third and fourth consecutive days this summer. According to the National Weather Service, this has occurred only once a year on average over the past 30 years.
As of Thursday, the airport weather station had 25 days with temperatures at or above 90 degrees and 12 days with temperatures at 95 degrees. Fourteen days are 90 degrees or above, and three are above 95 degrees.
The scorching temperatures prompted heat warnings around the Baltimore area and the opening of cooling centers stocked with cold water. Still, dozens of Marylanders are going to emergency rooms and urgent care centers seeking treatment for heat-related illnesses. Six people have died from the heat this year, including one in Baltimore City and several in Prince George's County.
Last week, the Maryland Department of Environment also issued a drought warning for much of the East Coast, with stream and groundwater levels below normal for the year. Residents are asked to start reducing their water consumption. The situation in other parts of the state is considered normal.
Researchers say climate change could make Baltimore's summers hotter overall and make excessively hot days more common.
That doesn’t mean every June will be as hot as last month, but it does mean that temperatures like last month will be about three times as hot in the future due to climate change — at least according to the nonprofit Climate Center calculation.
Climate Central researchers estimate that climate change has increased the number of days with above-normal temperatures by about 13 compared with 50 years ago. In the 1970s, this number tended to be around 40 days per summer, but now it's closer to 50 days.
“Right now, half of the summers are expected to be hotter than you remember summers in Baltimore, and generations before your generation remember,” said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at Climate Central. Same thing with Baltimore's summer. “I think that's really telling. “
Taking into account average temperatures, last month was the fifth warmest June on record. But if you only consider daily high temperatures, June 2024 has the second-highest temperature, with Baltimore's other June temperatures dating back to the late 1800s.
Baltimore's average high temperature in June is 89.2 degrees, nearly 5 degrees above normal, according to the weather service.
A high-pressure system, often called a heat dome, played a role in this year's high temperatures.
“We, like the rest of the American West, happen to be the unlucky ones,” said Brendan Rubin-Oster, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia. “Unfortunately, we've been in that heat dome. under.”
Winkley said climate change could make these domes more intense.
“It's getting hotter. They're increasing in size, so they're taking up more of the map than they used to,” Winkley said. “They're staying longer than before.”
Temperatures in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Roanoke, Virginia, could rival the sweltering 1988 heat wave earlier this week, AccuWeather forecasters said in a news release.Sweeping parts of the eastern United States
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Extremely hot days can take a toll. On June 22, the first day to hit triple digits this year, the Maryland Department of Health tracked 91 EMS calls for heat-related illnesses and 76 emergency room or urgent care visits, significantly more than any other day this week. Increase.
“It’s had a huge impact, especially on disadvantaged populations and young people,” said Richard Damoah, an assistant professor in Morgan State University’s climate science department. “It also has a huge impact on your daily activities because you want to stay indoors as much as possible.”
The effects of extreme heat are particularly pronounced in urban areas with fewer trees and greenery to provide shade and balance heat-trapping asphalt and concrete. They are often called heat islands.
Ben Zaitchik, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, is part of a group that is setting up weather stations around cities, especially in underserved communities, and meeting with residents to discuss environmental issues and weather monitoring. The goal of the initiative, called the Baltimore Social Environmental Partnership, is to inform the city's climate change planning in the coming years.
During a hot spell on June 22 and another on July 6, the partnership's weather stations captured widespread geographic variation. Overall, Zajchik said, the worst temperatures are found in downtown Baltimore, with the temperatures getting colder as you get closer to the suburbs. At its most obvious, the difference is about 7 degrees.
The difference is actually most noticeable at night, Zachik said.
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“If you go out after sunset and put your hand on a dark parking lot, it's still warm, right?” he said. “These materials retain heat and continue to radiate it overnight, and if you're in a place with more soil, a grassy surface, it cools faster after the sun goes down.”
Zaitchik and his team are evaluating solutions that could mitigate the heat island effect beyond just planting trees and other greenery. Examples include painting rowhouse roofs white and installing permeable pavers instead of giant asphalt slabs.
They also want to understand the impact of extreme heat on vulnerable people who have no choice but to work outside or take public transportation, or who must stay indoors without adequate air conditioning. Zajczyk said the job can go beyond just counting heat-related deaths.
“It's an extreme outcome, but your asthma or COPD will get worse before you die,” he said. “Your heat stress isn't going to cause you to go to the hospital, right? But it's going to change what you're doing, or your kids can't get recess outside, or they're not learning well because their school doesn't have air conditioning.
