Summer 2022 was hot – again! Summer of 2022 ranked 3rd hottest of 128 years of climatology. Last year ranked the hottest summer on record. Summer of 2020 was 4th hottest on record. One commonality with each summer of the past 3 years is the presence of a La Nina climate.

The Climate Impact Company soil moisture outlook through the end of 2022 indicates emerging important dryness for the Southeast U.S., East Africa and Argentina to Southeast Brazil while China drought continues.

ECMWF points toward tomorrow as the hottest day of many consecutive extremely hot days which last through this week. Thunderstorms caused by Tropical Cyclone Kay can cause local flooding late this week/next weekend as the heat wave erodes. Short-term thunderstorm activity is likely over the Sierra Nevada and southwest California mountains.

Presence of an upper-level low-pressure trough in the upper troposphere developed late last spring and lingered through meteorological summer. The upper trough is weaker in late August but still evident stretching from the Bahamas southwestward. The last time a tropical upper tropospheric trough was present during August in a vivid character was 2013 and during a weak La Nina climate.