Major West Coast heat wave: Video ‘Office Hours’ with Daniel Swain

You know it's hot - but is it unusually hot? (Spoiler: Yes.) Get context for your climate coverage this afternoon with UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain. Swain's climate office hours start today - Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 2 p.m. PT (link at bottom of page).

Get prepared by reading his Monday blog post, where he explains that while September heatwaves are common in the West, this one will still likely break some daily heat records and will be the most notable of the year so far in coastal Southern California, with temps as high as 115 degrees:

• "June and July were so persistently and extremely hot across most of California that the summer will likely officially end up as the hottest on record despite an August that featured near to even below average temperatures in many areas. That is genuinely remarkable."
• "Most of California's immediate coastline missed out on record heat this season (including some of the most densely populated portions of the SoCal megalopolis) - meaning that while a majority of California's land area did indeed just experience a record-hot summer, the majority of California's population likely did not (a pattern we've seen repeated in several recent years). The millions of folks living in and near Las Vegas and Phoenix, however, were not so lucky."
• "This week, the largest heatwave in over a month in many areas will expand and intensity along the entire West Coast of the U.S. and extending northward into British Columbia. … Temperatures will be at least 5-10 F above average virtually everywhere (even along the immediate coast) and as much as 15-20 degrees above average inland. While I don't expect any record-shattering heat with this event, unlike back in July, there may be some daily records."
• "This heat event will actually be the most notable of the year so far in coastal SoCal, where temperatures will make it into the upper 90s within just a few miles of the beaches and could locally end up as hot as 110-115 F in portions of the San Fernando Valley."
• "[Later in early September], it's probably simpler to list the areas that I think will not see substantially increased wildfire activity in the coming days."

YouTube 'Office Hours' with Daniel Swain

Wednesday, Sept. 4
2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET