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.Over 250 daily temperature records could be broken during the peak of the heat on Monday and Tuesday, including both record highs and record warm lows. Temperatures in some locations from Philadelphia to Boston could be the hottest in any month in over a decade. Additional records could fall Wednesday and Thursday.
Sure, a heat dome is a real thing: A massive, stagnant high-pressure system that traps hot air over a large area, leading to prolonged, extreme temperatures.
But in the hands of headline writers, it’s transformed from a technical weather pattern into a boogeyman…one that’s always lurking, always expanding, and always “putting millions more people at risk”. The American Meteorological Society only added “heat dome” to its glossary in 2022, but the media have been using it with wild abandon for years, often interchangeably with “heat wave” or even just “hot weather.”
The graphics used to convey the hysteria are a vivid palette of red, redder, and hellscape red.
No “heat dome” story is complete without a nod to climate change. Scientists and politicians alike are quick to link every hot day to global warming, and the media is happy to amplify the message.
This snippet from Associated Press is a classic.
The heat is part of Earth’s long-term warming. Summers in the United States are 2.4 degrees (1.3 degrees Celsius) hotter than 50 years ago, according to NOAA data. Human-caused climate change has made this heat wave three times more likely than without the burning of coal, oil and gas, the climate science nonprofit Climate Central calculated, using computer simulations comparing the current weather to a fictional world without the industrial greenhouse gases.
People are now questioning the “experts”, especially as it pertains to climate modelling.
In addition, many scientists with climate expertise are reminding us of the realities of both weather and history. Chris Martz, who recently graduated with a degree in meteorology, notes that it was warmer in 1988.
Furthermore, the mainstream media appears to be neglecting the cold snap that the western half of the nation is experiencing.
Yes, heat domes are real, and yes, they can be dangerous to vulnerable populations (the very young, the very old, and the sick).
But the media’s obsession with turning every hot day into a climate catastrophe risks numbing the public to real threats. When every heat wave is a “heat dome,” and every “heat dome” is a harbinger of doom, it’s easy to roll your eyes and tune out and this is the exact opposite of what responsible journalism should achieve.
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