The 3‐Week‐Long Transport History and Deep Tropical Origin of the 2021 Extreme Heat Wave in the Pacific Northwest

Abstract

Abstract The heat wave in late June of 2021 (PNW21) set new temperature records in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). In Lytton the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada was measured. Several studies have already explored this extreme event in detail, however, here we compare the atmospheric air mass transport and heating processes associated with this heat wave with the 34 other most extreme heat events in the same region during the period 1960–2021, using a long backtracking time of 25 days. We found significant differences in the heat waves. During PNW21 most of the air was coming from the Philippine Sea, with more than 40% of the air located south of 15°N, and anomalous advection of sensible and latent heat from the Tropics was the dominant cause of PNW21. The latent heat was efficiently converted into sensible heat by precipitation, which was unique, as most other extremes experienced net diabatic cooling.

Keywords

• heat wave
• atmospheric transport
• extreme event
• Northwest Pacific