Hot Hysteria

Summer's here:

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.

Never let a heat wave go to waste...