“Heat Dome” Hysteria: When Every Hot Summer Day Becomes a Climate Apocalypse

As summer rolls in, so does the annual ritual of media outlets dusting off their most dramatic weather vocabulary.

As I noted in my previous post, the latest term of choice is “heat dome”, a phrase so becoming overused it’s practically become shorthand for “brace yourself, humanity, the end is nigh.” Never mind that summer has always been hot; now, every spike in the mercury is a “heat dome,” a “scorcher,” or an “exceptionally strong” meteorological supervillain stalking the land.

As an example, here is the most recent report about the heat wave along the East Coast from the always histrionic CNN on the subject of the ‘heat dome” building across the country.

An extremely dangerous heat wave is underway for the eastern half of the United States as a potent heat dome reaches its peak, bringing the hottest temperatures of the year so far – the hottest in years for some cities – and putting tens of millions at risk...