Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States Heatwave
Abstract In June of 2021 the Southwest United States experienced a record‐breaking heatwave. This heatwave came at a time when the region was in severe drought. As drought alters the surface energy budget in ways that affect lower atmosphere temperature and circulations, it is possible that the comb...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099265 |
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| author | M. Osman B. F. Zaitchik N. S. Winstead |
| author_facet | M. Osman B. F. Zaitchik N. S. Winstead |
| author_sort | M. Osman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract In June of 2021 the Southwest United States experienced a record‐breaking heatwave. This heatwave came at a time when the region was in severe drought. As drought alters the surface energy budget in ways that affect lower atmosphere temperature and circulations, it is possible that the combined drought‐heat event was a cascading climate hazard, in which preexisting drought exacerbated the heatwave. We apply satellite observation and numerical experiments with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to test for land‐atmosphere feedbacks during the heatwave consistent with drought influence. We find a modest positive drought‐heat effect, as WRF simulations that include the drought have marginally higher air temperatures than those that exclude the initial drought conditions, with more substantial effects in wetter, forested areas. Evidence of drought‐heat‐drought‐coupled feedbacks was similarly modest in our simulations, as accounting for drought preconditioning led to a small reduction in simulated precipitation in the region. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a36876931b0b43a1b220c4cd7f466a5a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-a36876931b0b43a1b220c4cd7f466a5a2025-01-22T14:38:16ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072022-06-014912n/an/a10.1029/2022GL099265Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States HeatwaveM. Osman0B. F. Zaitchik1N. S. Winstead2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Johns Hopkins University Baltimore MD USADepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences Johns Hopkins University Baltimore MD USAApplied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore MD USAAbstract In June of 2021 the Southwest United States experienced a record‐breaking heatwave. This heatwave came at a time when the region was in severe drought. As drought alters the surface energy budget in ways that affect lower atmosphere temperature and circulations, it is possible that the combined drought‐heat event was a cascading climate hazard, in which preexisting drought exacerbated the heatwave. We apply satellite observation and numerical experiments with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to test for land‐atmosphere feedbacks during the heatwave consistent with drought influence. We find a modest positive drought‐heat effect, as WRF simulations that include the drought have marginally higher air temperatures than those that exclude the initial drought conditions, with more substantial effects in wetter, forested areas. Evidence of drought‐heat‐drought‐coupled feedbacks was similarly modest in our simulations, as accounting for drought preconditioning led to a small reduction in simulated precipitation in the region.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099265heatwavedroughtfeedbacksland‐atmosphere fluxesUnited States |
| spellingShingle | M. Osman B. F. Zaitchik N. S. Winstead Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States Heatwave Geophysical Research Letters heatwave drought feedbacks land‐atmosphere fluxes United States |
| title | Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States Heatwave |
| title_full | Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States Heatwave |
| title_fullStr | Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States Heatwave |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States Heatwave |
| title_short | Cascading Drought‐Heat Dynamics During the 2021 Southwest United States Heatwave |
| title_sort | cascading drought heat dynamics during the 2021 southwest united states heatwave |
| topic | heatwave drought feedbacks land‐atmosphere fluxes United States |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099265 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mosman cascadingdroughtheatdynamicsduringthe2021southwestunitedstatesheatwave AT bfzaitchik cascadingdroughtheatdynamicsduringthe2021southwestunitedstatesheatwave AT nswinstead cascadingdroughtheatdynamicsduringthe2021southwestunitedstatesheatwave |