The fall heat wave was gnarly

Temperature records toppled, and some were smashed, over a vast region of the U.S. this past fall week, including record October highs in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Newark, Raleigh, Nashville, New Orleans, Pensacola, Indianapolis, and beyond. 

And in the past week, over 300 daily record highs were broken. 

But, it's not the number of records that's so exceptional, noted Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

"It's the geographic scope that's striking," Swain said. 

The expansive fall heat wave, which brought triple-digit temperatures to Alabama, demonstrates how rising global temperatures amplify weather events. In this case, big swings in the jet stream — a relatively narrow band of high altitude, powerful winds that separates cooler northern air from warmer southern air — let chilly air swoop down into the western U.S. while allowing warmer tropical air to move north and settle over a large zone of the central and eastern U.S.  Read more...

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