Asteroids and heat

It’s been a very warm and dry July across the Inland Northwest. The average high for this month is around 89 degrees. There were 15 days of readings at or above 90 degrees this year, with 13 during July. We’re certainly going to add to that figure as more 90-degree weather is expected this week. Despite the above-normal temperatures, we haven’t hit the 100-degree mark in Coeur d’Alene this summer. The hottest afternoon occurred July 21 with a high of 98 degrees.

Rainfall this summer season has been light. We’ve still only received slightly more than 0.40 inches of rain for the summer of 2023, well below normal. Last summer was also a very dry one as we picked up 0.72 inches of rain through the end of July 2022.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, North Idaho is experiencing moderate to severe drought. In Coeur d’Alene, we’re currently classified as having moderate drought conditions. Conditions are still expected to be drier than normal into September, but there is the chance of some showers and thunderstorms late next week. Weather patterns may start to favor above-normal moisture later in September and October for the Inland Northwest.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, it’s been extremely hot across the southern U.S. Phoenix, Ariz., has smashed its record of consecutive days of 110-degree or higher temperatures. The old record was set back in 1974, from June 12 to 29, with the very hot weather. The new streak may finally come to an end this week, but highs will still be well above 100 degrees for the foreseeable future.

The giant heatwave in the U.S. did expand last week as over 170 million people were under heat alerts. Texas has been baking as El Paso had 44 days in a row with readings over 100 degrees. Miami, Fla., had at least 45 days with heat indexes this year over 100 degrees. According to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, the average global temperature has been higher than 60 degrees since May 11. The world’s hottest day occurred July 6 with a reading of 63.14 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest in recorded history. Some scientists are claiming that this month will be the hottest July in history.

On another note, and a change of pace, there have been numerous articles written about the several near-miss asteroids. For example, an asteroid the “size of an airplane,” about 200 feet in size, came within about 25% of the moon’s distance from Earth on July 13. Despite the continuous upgrades in technology, it wasn’t detected until two days later. According to EarthSky, the object came from the side of the sun creating a “blind spot” for observers.

In late January of 2023, there was another asteroid the size of a large bus that passed about 2,200 miles above the southern tip of South America. It was discovered just a few days before its arrival and was not expected to hit our planet, but it was “one of the closest approaches” ever recorded.

Many of us remember the asteroid that hit Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013. That was another object that was undetectable, as this also entered our blind spot. The object broke up over this region as many dashcams and other recording devices showed that event. Many windows were blown out and there was other damage from the impact.

The last major asteroid impact was known as the Tunguska event or incident. This happened near the Podkamennaya Tungusta River in Russia on June 30, 1908. The event is the largest impact event on Earth in recorded or recent history. The asteroid was large enough to create an approximate 12-megaton explosion that literally flattened 80 million trees over 830 square miles of forest. Despite being called an impact event, scientists believe that the object exploded over the region about 5 miles above the ground. No impact craters were found from the asteroid.

NASA, the European Space Agency, and other organizations monitor these space objects. There is a list of about 1,500 objects and they point out that there is a “near zero” chance of any of them threatening Earth within the next 100 years. However, planetary defense systems are continuing to evolve to protect Earth from threatening objects. In fact, Nov. 24, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft successfully collided with an asteroid and managed to shorten its orbit with the intention of protecting our planet from an object that is much bigger.

By the way, our planet is in the middle of what is considered to be a cosmic shooting gallery. Cosmic dust is added to the Earth and according to meteor specialists at the University of Western Ontario, it’s estimated that approximately 40,000 metric tons of interplanetary materials hit our atmosphere every year.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com.