HALCYON MAPS Creative Place-Making: The Alexa Web-Traffic Data Visualization of The 2021 World Wide Web Internet

Harking back to historic cartography here's THE MAP OF INTERNET 2021 produced and published by Halcyon Maps. 

Relative territorial sizes of websites on the main map are based on their average Alexa web traffic ranking between January 2020 and January 2021.

https://www.halcyonmaps.com/map-of-the-internet-2021/ 

A narrative from Techdirt

Here's a thumbnail version, but you really should go check out the full size version on Martin's website (or, better yet, buy some prints of the whole thing).

Just the fact that looking at this smaller version above it's nearly impossible to read what most of the "countries" are should give you just a taste of how vast the non-big-tech part of the world wide web really is. There's a lot of "land" out there that isn't controlled by the big players, and we should be celebrating that. On his website he's got a few zoomed in examples as well, including the part that is my favorite: "Protocol Ocean."

Now some may quibble with various aspects of this. It's based on Alexa data, which isn't the most reliable, and it's only covering web traffic, which likely misses a lot of activity that is purely mobile these days. But still, when laid out this way, you really begin to get a sense of the diversity of the web.

Map Of The Internet Exposes The Lie That 'Big Tech' Controls The Internet

Overhype

from the it's-a-wide-wide-world-wide-web dept

Wed, Jun 9th 2021 11:58am — Mike Masnick

"To hear many people talk about things, the entire internet these days is controlled by just a few companies, mainly Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Depending on who you're talking to, you may hear them throw in companies like Netflix. But some of us keep pointing out that while those guys are big, that doesn't mean the rest of the internet stops existing. And it's still incredibly large. If you want this point really driven home, check out this amazing map of the 2021 internet by Martin Vargic (first spotted via Fast Company).

 

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EXPLANATION:

> Compared to any previous iteration of the Map of the Internet, this new version is many times more detailed and informative. It includes several thousand of some of the most popular websites, represented as distinct "countries", which are grouped together with others of similar type or category, forming dozens of distinct clusters, regions and continents that stretch throughout the map, such as "news sites", "search engines", "social networks", "e-commerce", "adult entertainment", "file sharing", "software companies" and so much more.  In the center of it all can be found ISPs and web browsers, which form the core and backbone of the internet as we know it, while the far south is the domain of the mysterious "dark web".

> Color schemes of websites are based on the dominant colors of their user interface or logo. To add further detail and provide deeper insight, many features and services provided by these websites, their sections and content categories, as well as distinct content creators, are labeled as cities and towns (which number at well over 10 thousand). Website founders and CEOs are represented as capital cities, while hundreds of the most popular users of social networks and celebrities can be found in the realms of Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter. Mountains, hills, seas and valleys represent a wide variety of aspects of the internet, its culture and computer science overall, while almost a hundred of some of the most important internet and computing pioneers are also featured on the map in the names of underwater ridges. > Surrounding the main map, the graphic also includes a large amount of supplemental information, including a ranking of the most popular websites, largest internet-related companies, list of major sites blocked in China or best-selling video games of all time, as well as several smaller maps of the real world, on internet-related topics, such as the share of population using the internet, cost and speed of broadband, levels of internet censorship and the most popular social network by country.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

". . .In the coming years, the relative popularity of sites bound to gradually change, some of the old sites will be shut down as new sites take their place, so this map can provide an unprecedented visualization to the future generations of how internet used to be.

Since its inception in 1989, the internet has been in a state of continuous flux as millions of different sites emerged and then fell by the wayside. From this initial chaos, many major corporate players have emerged over the decades, and have since become dominant in heir respective niches. This trend has been especially evident in the last decade, as Google, Youtube, Amazon and Facebook have far outgrown or absorbed most of their previous competition on an international global scale. Increasingly, this has led to mounting accusations of monopolistic behavior, censorship and misuse of user data.

This work was originally inspired by the “Map of Online Communities“ by Randall Munroe, and further by my own maps of the internet 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 previously published in 2014-2015."

------ GO HERE >> https://www.halcyonmaps.com/

 

 

STATES OF EMERGENCY: Deep In Decades-Old Drought Utah Governor Cox Urges Prayer For Rain (Regardless of Religious Affiliation)

The West is ablaze in deep red and burgundy on for the U.S., signaling extreme to exceptional drought. Here is A snapshot of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Drought Monitor on June 1st, 2021. NOAA

 

 

Water levels at Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, are expected to keep dropping throughout the year. . .The lake surface has dropped 140 feet since 2000, leaving the reservoir just 37 percent full. With such a dramatic drop, officials expect to declare an official water shortage for the first time ever. That could affect water and energy that Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam deliver to Arizona, California, and Nevada.

The drought tugging at the lake’s water levels is affecting other states in the region, too. “Please join me and Utahns, regardless of religious affiliation, in a weekend of humble prayer for rain,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a video plea last week. He declared a state of emergency in March as Utah, like much of the West, plunged deep into drought.

Amid dangerous drought conditions, we’re inviting all Utahns — regardless of religious affiliation — to join us this weekend in collective and humble prayer for rain.

Read more: https://t.co/uJzFARl7BI pic.twitter.com/HS755aXEy3

— Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) June 3, 2021

The Hoover Dam reservoir is at an all-time low

Much of the Western US faces drought, extreme heat, and fire risk

By Justine Calma@justcalma Jun 10, 2021, 11:25am EDT

A general view of Lake Mead, a human-made lake that lies on the Colorado River, about 24 miles southeast of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the states of Nevada and Arizona, on December 21st, 2019, in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. Formed by the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and serves water to the states of Arizona, California, and Nevada, as well as some of Mexico, providing sustenance to nearly 20 million people and large areas of farmland.

Photo by Paul Rovere / Getty Images

          

Lake Mead, the reservoir created by the Hoover Dam, that feeds water to 25 million people across Western states, is historically low. On June 9th, the water level dipped to 1,071.57 feet above sea level, narrowly beating a record low last set in 2016.

It didn’t help that a sweltering spring heatwave hit much of the continental US this past weekend. Las Vegas, some 30 miles from Lake Mead, reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit and could see even higher temperatures next week. Altogether, the drought and heat are scary omens for this year’s fire season. An above-normal risk of fire is forecasted for the Southwest through June, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

In July, the Southwest’s monsoon season is expected to kick in and provide some relief — at least temporarily. Climate change has brought on higher spring and summer temperatures, more severe wildfires, less snow (which much of the West relies on for water), and more intense dry seasons.

=========================================================================
ARIZONA ( Reference: https://new.azwater.gov/drought/drought-status )

Monthly Drought Status Summary: MAY 2021

May is typically one of the two driest months in Arizona. Up to 0.50 inches of rain were received throughout Coconino, Yavapai, Gila, and Apache counties. However, this was not enough to improve current drought conditions. While north central Arizona received most of the rain, the rest of the state remained exceedingly dry, roughly 60%-90% below last year’s average precipitation levels for the month.

Drought conditions have remained largely unchanged through the month with 95% of the state in Severe (D2) to Exceptional (D4) drought.

No substantial improvement to drought is expected in June

Wildland fires continued to impact the state with above-normal fire risk. Stage 2 fire restrictions were issued on state lands in Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties. All other counties continued Stage 1 fire restrictions.

May temperatures across the state were generally average for the month. The outlook for summer shows above average temperatures expected, with equal chances for above, normal, or below average amounts of rain.

This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee on June 7, 2021. Arizona's short-term drought status map is updated during the first week of each month.

=========================================================================

International Business Times

Climate Change News: Drought Worries Grow Across
The ...

The 247 square-mile lake in Nevada and Arizona is a major water supply for surrounding states. The largest reservoir in the U.S., Lake Mead, just dropped to the ...

53 mins ago

 

Yahoo News

The nation's largest reservoir hits lowest level since
1930s ...

Amid an intensifying drought, Lake Mead in Nevada, the nation's largest reservoir ... and Arizona, is part of the vast Colorado River basin that provides water for ...

2 hours ago

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ARIZONA ADEQ Monitoring and Assessment: Ambient Groundwater Monitoring Program

( Reference: https://legacy.azdeq.gov/environ/water/assessment/ambient.html )

---- NOTHING MORE RECENT THAN 2015???????????????????????????\

The groundwater monitoring program seeks to characterize groundwater quality in each of the 51 groundwater basins that have been designated in Arizona by state agencies. Comprehensive groundwater sampling is conducted in a basin following the approval of a sample plan. . .

Studies

The ADEQ Ambient Monitoring Program has completed reports covering 20 groundwater basins within Arizona. These reports are available in two formats: a comprehensive Open File Report (OFR) and a compact four-page fact sheet (FS). The OFR is designed for audiences seeking an indepth hydrologic analysis of the basin. In contrast, the FS is designed for a more general audience seeking a brief overview of the groundwater quality of the basin.

The data for all samples collected for these studies, besides being available in the individual OFRs are also available through the ADEQ Groundwater Database. This database includes all samples collected by the ADEQ Ambient Groundwater Monitoring Program as well as other monitoring programs within the agency.

More

Groundwater Basin Fact Sheets

• Agua Fria Basin (2004-2006) -- (PDF)
• Aravaipa Canyon Basin (2003) -- (PDF)
• Avra Valley Sub-Basin (1998-2001) -- (PDF)
• Big Sandy Basin (2003-2004) -- (PDF)
• Bill Williams Basin (2003-2009) -- (PDF)
• Butler Valley Basin (2008-2012) -- (PDF)
• Cienega Creek Basin (2000-2001) -- (PDF)
• Detrital Valley Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• Douglas Basin (1995-1996) -- (PDF)
• Dripping Springs Wash Basin (2004-2005) -- (PDF)
• Gila Bend Basin(2012-2015) -- (PDF)
• Gila Valley Sub-Basin (2004) -- (PDF)
• Harquahala Basin (2009-2014) -- (PDF)
• Hualapai Valley Basin (2000) -- (PDF)
• Lake Mohave Basin (2003) -- (PDF)
• Lower San Pedro Basin (2000) -- (PDF)
• McMullen Valley Basin (2008-2009) -- (PDF)
• Meadview Basin (2000-2003) -- (PDF)
• Pinal Active Management Area (2005-2006) -- (PDF)
• Prescott Active Management Area (1997-1998) -- (PDF)
• Ranegras Plain Basin (2008-2011) -- (PDF)
• Sacramento Valley Groundwater Basin (1999) -- (PDF)
• San Bernardino Valley Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• San Rafael Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• San Simon Sub-Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• Sierra Vista Basin (1996) (in conjunction with the USGS) -- (PDF)
• Tiger Wash Basin (2014) -- (PDF)
• Tonto Creek (2002-2012) -- (PDF)
• Upper Hassayampa Basin (2003-2009) -- (PDF)
• Virgin River Basin (1997) -- (PDF)
• Willcox Basin (1999) -- (PDF)
• Yuma Basin (1995) -- (PDF)

Groundwater Open File Reports

• Groundwater Quality in Arizona: A 15-Year Overview of the ADEQ Ambient Monitoring Program (1995-2009) -- (PDF)
  
  
• Agua Fria Basin (2004-2006) -- (PDF)
• Aravaipa Canyon Basin (2003) -- (PDF)
• Avra Valley Sub-Basin (1998-2001) -- (PDF)
• Big Sandy Basin (2003-2004) -- (PDF)
• Bill Williams Basin (2003-2009) -- (PDF)
• Butler Valley Basin (2008-2012) -- (PDF)
• Cienega Creek Basin (2000-2001) -- (PDF)
• Detrital Valley Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• Douglas Basin (1995-1996) -- (PDF) (Download PDF Maps)
• Dripping Springs Wash Basin (2004-2005) -- (PDF)
• Fort Valley Septic Study (1997) -- (PDF)
• Gila Bend Basin (2012-2015) -- (PDF)
• Gila Valley Sub-Basin (2004) -- (PDF)
• Harquahala Basin (2009-2014) -- (PDF)
• Hualapai Valley Basin (2000) -- (PDF)
• Lake Mohave Basin (2003) -- (PDF)
• Lower San Pedro Basin (2000) -- (PDF)
• McMullen Valley Basin (2008-2009) -- (PDF)
• Meadview Basin (2000-2003) -- (PDF)
• Pinal Active Management Area (2005-2006) -- (PDF)
• Prescott Active Management Area (1997-1998) -- (PDF)
• Ranegras Plain Basin (2008-2011) -- (PDF)
• Sacramento Valley Basin (1999) -- (PDF)
• San Bernardino Valley Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• San Rafael Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• San Simon Sub-Basin (2002) -- (PDF)
• Sierra Vista Sub-basin/Upper San Pedro Basin (1996-1997) -- (PDF)
• Tiger Wash Basin (2014) -- (PDF)
• Tonto Creek (2002-2012) -- (PDF)
• Upper Hassayampa Basin (2003-2009) -- (PDF)
• Upper Santa Cruz Basin (1998) -- (PDF)
• Virgin River Basin (1997) -- (PDF)
• Willcox Basin (1999) -- (PDF)
• Yuma Basin (1995) -- (PDF)
  

MAG Super Steve Chucri Has A Day-Job > Head Honcho For Arizona Restaurant Association

Right--to-Work GOP lawmakers at all levels seem determined to create a pool of workers so financially desperate that they’ll work for whatever meager pay employers deign to offer. It’s a barbaric way to treat people, and it betrays a bleak vision of our fellow Americans. There is no crisis of laziness. The only real crisis is that we haven’t ensured that people can go back to meaningful, remunerative work.  

" Arizona restaurants that survived the pandemic are returning to normal capacity levels. What isn’t returning to normal are their employment numbers. 

Across the state, sections of tables are unoccupied with no one to wait on them, and customers are waiting a longer time in line as understaffed kitchens scramble to construct their meals.

A major reason for the lopsided ratio of customers to employees might be the ongoing unemployment checks that have been in effect since last year. ????????????????????

(Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz)

There Is No Crisis of Laziness

Republicans seem determined to make workers so financially desperate that they’ll labor for whatever pay employers deign to offer. 

By Bryce CovertTwitter Today 5:00 am

The Nation

Americans are, in fact, heading back to work, even if it’s not as briskly as some would like. New unemployment claims have been steadily dropping in recent weeks and fell 48 percent between January and late May.

But apparently that progress isn’t fast enough for Republican governors. Collectively, the states that say they will pull out of the enhanced federal benefits are expected to kick as many as 4.1 million people off the rolls this month.

This should come as no surprise. Conservatives have long been hell-bent on trying to force Americans to work by threatening to take away benefits if they don’t. . .

======================== STOP RIGHT THERE

Steve Chucri is president of the Arizona Restaurant Association. He says paying workers to stay home is no longer necessary and unfair to taxpayers. 

“Look, as a taxpayer I don’t think that’s right,” Chucri said. “I know these people work very hard. But unless you’re going and actively seeking employment, I don’t think you should be getting paid to be sitting at home doing nothing.”

After a year or more at home, workers’ biggest hurdles may be the emotional change of returning in person, says Geoffrey Smith, associate professor at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business. 

“It’s not so much that people may not want to work, it’s that change,” Smith said. “You know, it's having to establish a new routine. And having to actually, you know, get up and go to work. It’s just that first step."

Effective July 10, The state will no longer pay $300 a week in federal supplemental unemployment. Instead, it will offer a $2,000 bonus to anyone who finds a full-time job and $1,000 to those who can get part-time work. They also must stay on the job for at least 10 weeks to receive the bonus."

Upping The Ante: The American Workforce Deserves A Good Job NOT MORE PEOPLE IMPOVERISHED

Let's get straight to the point right now >

There Is No Crisis of Laziness

Republicans seem determined to make workers so financially desperate that they’ll labor for whatever pay employers deign to offer. 

By Bryce CovertTwitter

Today 5:00 am

Republican governors are done sympathizing with the millions of unemployed Americans. In March 2020, Congress expanded unemployment benefits to offset the steep, sudden loss of jobs caused by Covid-19. But as of late May, more than three-quarters of GOP-led states said they would prematurely end the extra $300 payments, broadened eligibility, and longer benefit period.

Lawmakers in these 24 states say they are responding to claims by business owners that more generous unemployment benefits make people unwilling to come back to their jobs. But that complaint is more fantasy than fact.

Economists have pumped out reams of studies on the question of whether larger unemployment benefits make people hesitant to work. The findings are nearly unanimous: They don’t

. . .Collectively, the states that say they will pull out of the enhanced federal benefits are expected to kick as many as 4.1 million people off the rolls this month.

This should come as no surprise. Conservatives have long been hell-bent on trying to force Americans to work by threatening to take away benefits if they don’t. They have, for example, touted work requirements in cash welfare assistance, a stick meant to coerce the poor into taking jobs in order to receive financial assistance. We’ve learned since they were instituted that they don’t increase work. What they do is leave more people impoverished.

 

 

From The Extreme Far-Right: Arizona's Andy Biggs, Representing "The Fighting 5th" Congressional District

With a public education system ranking  #49 near-the-bottom of achievement standards can Arizona and The Nation expect anything more from Mr.Biggs? Arizona is down there with The State of Mississippi. . Neither state can be proud of their history of systemic racism.

The Miseducation of White Children

The attacks on critical race theory are just another attempt to prevent this country from reckoning with its racist past and present—by keeping white kids ignorant.

By Elie MystalTwitter June 3, 2021

The Nation

(Image credit: US Representative Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) speaking at a press conference about banning federal funding for the teaching of critical race theory.

(Michael Brochstein / Sipa USA via AP Images)

"President Joe Biden went to Tulsa, Okla., this week to honor the victims of the 1921 massacre on “Black Wall Street” and, as important, to acknowledge that it happened. It was a nice presidential visit (albeit one devoid of any policy proposals for redress of the wrongs committed) that fulfilled what should be a bare minimum requirement in a country able to tell the truth about itself . . .The reason most people didn’t know about the massacre is because they don’t teach about this history in schools.

The United States doesn’t rely only on Hollywood or the media to tell the story of white people in the New World. This country also employs a different institution, the public school system, to spread the myth of white exceptionalism and to whitewash the episodes of white terrorism against others.

=========================================================================

INSERT Uploaded by Breitbart to YouTube on May 12, 2021

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An essential project of that education system is to absolve present-day white people of any need to reckon with the horrors that made their world possible—and still make their world possible—by assuring them that whatever sins this country committed were redeemed or corrected by the efforts of previous Americans.

As often as not, those sins and horrors are covered up to protect young white minds from ever knowing the truth about our country. This project is designed to leave white Americans feeling that they have nothing to atone for, so they can blithely continue doing the work of white supremacy and reaping the rewards of white privilege with a clear conscience. All historical tragedies, the ones that are mentioned at least, are framed through the eyes of some American (usually white) who fought against evil forces. Children are supposed to believe, as most kids are inclined to do anyway, that the forces of good eventually triumphed. . .

> The founding of the country, for instance, is taught through the eyes of Thomas Jefferson, not Sally Hemmings.

> The fight for women’s rights is introduced only through the efforts of noted suffragist and racist Susan B. Anthony, not Sojourner Truth or Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

> Westward expansion is explored purely as the story of Lewis and Clark—and their helpful assistant Sacagawea.

> Slavery is addressed primarily through the redeeming narrative of “the Great Emancipator,” Abraham Lincoln.

> And, of course, students learn that any issue of racial oppression that Lincoln didn’t quite get around to solving was “fixed” by Martin Luther King Jr. and the anodyne, docile caricature of nonviolence white people have created around him.

To be educated in American schools is to be taught that this country has been on some kind of linear journey toward justice and equality, culminating in the nation the (brutal slaver and colonist) founders always really wanted us to be.How quickly and how completely one rejects this false historiography of America is, as much as anything, the dividing line between white conservatives and white liberals.

We more or less agree that those inequities exist and are, in fact, problems

 

Of course, conservative forces are never satisfied with merely promoting the white narrative of US history. They also feel the need to attack other narratives that take a less forgiving view of white contributions to the continents bizarrely named for people who got lost. And that is why conservative white people have lately descended upon “critical race theory” as their new casus belli.

But it works as a wedge issue for Republicans because teaching anybody, anywhere, that white people might still be complicit in the ongoing acts of violence and oppression against others goes against the conservative orthodoxy  that white people are the best people and any mistakes committed were either benevolent, justified, or corrected long ago.

KEEPING WHITE KIDS DUMB IS AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE

KEEPING NON-WHITE KIDS DUMB is also something conservatives are always trying to accomplish, but most parents of color know that going in. Every person of color from this country has at least been exposed—by a parent, elder, or the community writ large—­to an extracurricular crash course on what America is really about. . The author of this article taken from The Nation understands why white ignorance makes the conservative political project easier. It is, for instance, a lot easier to get white people to vote for continued housing discrimination if they don’t even understand how housing discrimination works.

 

Hobbling your own children with ignorance to maintain cultural dominance is a hell of a choice.

==========================================================================

 

RELATED CONTENT (Vanity Fair 06.04.2021)

Republican lawmakers in state after state are trying to crack down on teaching systemic racism, a culture war issue that fits right into the GOP's 2022 Midterm Elections Strategy.

By Caleb Ecarma June 4, 2021

The GOP’s “Critical Race Theory” Freakout Is Spreading Across America

 

Members of the House Freedom Caucus, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., left, Mary Miller, R-Ill., and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., conduct a news conference outside the Capitol on February 25, 2021.By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call

" In recent months Republican lawmakers in close to a dozen states have aggressively made legislative advances against the GOP’s latest culture war target: “critical race theory.”

Idaho governor Brad Little last month signed a bill supposedly designed to bar state-funded schools and universities from “indoctrinating” students into the view that “any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.” While Idaho’s law, which is the first of its kind, may not sound disagreeable in theory, it is a different story in action, as the legislation could ostensibly ban educators from teaching that present-day financial inequality is linked to America’s history of systemic racism.

Critics of the legislation have also warned that it will stifle the First Amendment rights of teachers.

ARIZONA ...

Oklahoma, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Rhode Island have all introduced similar bills or amendments, or have proposed state mandates that would have a similar impact on schools.

 

. . .The ACLU has condemned the new batch of legislation and questioned if the proposals violate the free speech rights of educators and students. “A nationwide attempt to censor discussions of race in the classroom is underway,” the free speech advocacy group wrote in a statement.

“These bills don’t just set back progress in addressing systemic issues, they also rob young people of an inclusive education and blatantly suppress speech about race.… It’s up to state governors across the country to veto these harmful bills.”

STATES OF EMERGENCY: Earth Science + Space Weather Impact The Planet

Never too early - or too late - to let this sink in again and again and again

Southwest heat wave intensifies, breaks records and worsens drought

Andrew Freedman

Axios | 2021-06-16T14:57:52.057878Z

A temperature "misery index" shows peak levels across the Southwest (orange and yellow), and the upper air flow shows how the jet stream is being pushed north, away from the heat dome hovering to impact the Four Corners region. (Earth.nullschool.net)

 

A punishing and long-enduring heat wave is intensifying in parts of the West and Southwest, with heat warnings and advisories in effect across seven states Wednesday. The heat will not relent until late in the weekend.

Threat level: In the coming days, 40 million are likely to see temperatures reach or exceed 100 degrees.

Why it matters: The extreme heat is unusually intense for June, and is aggravating already dire drought conditions that could lead to another devastating wildfire season.

The details: Overnight minimum temperatures in Las Vegas barely slipped below 90°F early Wednesday, and daytime highs are anticipated to approach the city’s all-time record of 117°F today through Saturday.

• In Phoenix, the low temperature Tuesday night into Wednesday warming was a stifling 91°F.
• The heat wave is the result of a sprawling area of high pressure at the surface and aloft, also known as a heat dome. It's deepening the already extreme drought across the West, and adding to the significant wildfire danger across the region.
• Wildfire risks are especially heightened from Arizona to California, northeastward into Montana. In Arizona and New Mexico, lightning from scattered thunderstorms could trigger new wildfires beginning Wednesday, as they mainly bring dry lightning and dust to a parched region.
  

The big picture: The West is currently experiencing its most intense and expansive drought of the 21st Century, and the heat wave and drought are reinforcing one another.

• One of the clearest conclusions of climate science is that heat waves are becoming more intense and longer-lasting as the climate warms overall. In some cases, climate studies have shown that extreme heat events could not have occurred in the absence of human-caused global warming.
• In recent years, there has also been a trend toward stubborn and sprawling heat domes that block storm systems and keep hot weather locked in place for days at a time.

The bottom line: The summer temperature outlook from the Weather Service shows a high likelihood of above average temperatures across the West and Southwest, in part driven by prevailing weather patterns as well as the drought conditions.

 

NEW SUBMARINES FOR THE RUSSIA'S POWERFUL NORTHERN FLEET!!! AND THE US N...