Why Heat Domes Are SO Deadly | Weathered: Earth’s Extremes

In 2021, the Pacific Northwest experienced one of the most extreme and anomalous weather events in history: a devastating heat dome that shattered temperature records across the region. Lytton, BC, reached 121°F, and Portland, OR, hit 116°F. Tragically, more than 1,400 people lost their lives during this event.

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Weathered: Earth's Extremes
Host, Maiya May travels around the world to highlight real stories from people affected by natural disasters and climate change. Stream our series to learn how building a better future is possible. Check out more from Weathered on @pbsterra!

[Kbarboza]

Born and raised in socal here. I was used to temperatures in the 110°-115° in the summer. I moved to northern New Mexico two years ago. The elevation where I live now is 7, 000 feet. The summers here are so beautiful with cool nights. The hottest it’s been here since I’ve moved has been 90°-95° max! Still very hot for the mountains but it’s so different and lovely here. I can’t see myself moving back to California even though I love it there and my family & friends are there. The heat is unbearable and the traffic is horrible at any time of the day. There’s also a better sense of community here with I’ve never experienced. Small town living has been my best move so far.

[brunawitt]

I was in Vancouver then and my baby girl was one month old. We had to desperately look for a hotel room with air conditioning since our baby was not responding anymore, even having a fan facing her all the time. Her body could not low her own temperature anymore… I’m originally from Brazil and I had never experienced that amount of heat in my life. And besides more than 200 people, many dogs and cats died those days. It was a nightmare. Now we live in a house with air conditioning and I can only hope it doesn’t happen again and if it happens I hope the power doesn’t go off…

[BubblesintheDesert]

120F/48.8C is actually extreme for southern AZ, US as well. As for those recommending cool showers, tap water in AZ during the summer could be somewhere around 80F-90F/26C-32C.

[fredherfst]

We got clobbered on Vancouver Island. I even watered down our house.
Next we immediately installed a mini split heat pump.

[ronkirk]

I'll be settling in Maine next spring. I can no longer tolerate the long, hot humid summers down south. You can always bundle up and enjoy some outdoor time during the long winters up north.

[rolandgibson-murphy]

Unfortunately, this will have to become the norm before we even think of doing anything.
Even if this is the norm and people drop dead, many in each city, there would be a discussion about the cost and exactly what to do.

[juncohill]

I think we should be calling these "heat storms" instead. The scale and severity of these events, coupled with the lives lost and infrastructure damaged, puts these on the same level as the windstorms and floods this area is familiar with. Not calling it a storm makes it seem less dangerous than it is.

[SurrealKangaroo]

I live in the Puget Sound area. It was like 108F that day. The summer school I worked at had to be canceled.

[BillyMartin]

I live in Gilbert, AZ. Just a bit east of Phoenix. It was 98 degrees here today. It’s 9:28pm and it’s finally cooled off to 75 degrees outside. I have all the windows open and a box fan at the rear screen door pulling cool air in. It’s 80 degrees inside my house. I can’t believe it’s October 26th. Fall started 5 weeks ago and we’ve had near record heat every day this month. I don’t think I’ll make it through another summer here. It’s unbearably hot. I’ve been here 46 years and I think it’s time to get out and go someplace cooler. Even the trees in the yard died. Not from a lack of water but because the roots died from the heat of the ground. I can’t see how people will be able to live here in 20 years if it keeps getting hotter.

[robertklund]

That is the equivalent of being in a sauna continuously. Only in this case you can't just step out when you have have had enough.

[Michaelca]

I have lived in British Columbia all of my life. When we lived in the Vancouver area, we used to get snow every winter until 1982-83 when that stopped happening. We moved into the interior of the province and it has been hotter and hotter every year since. I have never experienced 40 C temperatures until recently and now that seems to be the norm.

[qwertyuiopst]

If you have cold running water take a cold shower or sit in a cold bath when you start getting too hot. Stay in the cold shower or cold water until you are almost shivering. (and by 'cold' I mean _cold_, not 'lukewarm'). Everything will feel marvelously warm when you get out of the cold shower or cold tub, and you'll likely be fine for two to three hours - if you stay in the shade and mostly inactive.

[christinamann]

Lytton BC hit a national record high. Then hit a new high the next day. Then hit a new high the day after that. The day after that the town burned down. 😢

[Rene-uzeb]

Yes basically when you don't have wind because the domes can't radiate enough heat to space to cool off the top air

[whatabouttheearth]

In short: In the northern hemisphere, a "Heat Dome" is a dry, hot high pressure system (essentially a "Heat Wave") that stays in one place due to the stasis of the northern jet stream.

The northern jet streat has changed over the last half a century from something more like a sine wave, to something more like a lava lamp with not only farther excursions south, but also more erratic gyrations and deep disconnected waves. This is guaranteed to be related to so much Arctic ice melting and decreasing cooling.

[JohnAranita]

I might stream this tonight on my home theatre.

[radiokaga]

Waiting for a special report on Japan as well - record high temp in the summer this

[ImNordicCelticSlavicIbericHan]

Over my life I’ve driven so many miles and i feel like every time i drove my gas burning car or flew in a gas burning plane contributed to this persons death. I’ve since taken to driving only when necessary in a hybrid but optional driving or flying for leisure is off limits to me now. I feel bad not only for the people dying in the heat but also all the other life forms out there that are suffering and dying. Our world is dying.

[rosshoyt]

This is always a great show..thanks for the climate insights!

[Pecisk]

Very interesting detail, I wasn't completely sure how heat domes form. Destruction of jet stream and polar vortex gonna make Northen globe climate very unstable and unreliable. We can live with it, but plants, etc. will have hard time to adapt. So food scarcity etc.
There are some obvious adaptations we can do, but if we don't decrease CO2 in all possible ways, mainly focusing on not using CO2 rich energy sources, this adaptation will help us for short period of time.