Wisconsin Sizzles: Why Our Heat Waves Are Getting Worse

By Dean Muller, President, Wisconsin for Environmental Justice 

Wisconsin, get ready to sweat! When a heat wave hits our state, it's not just a string of hot days; it's a specific weather event caused by a "stuck" high-pressure system. Imagine a giant, invisible blanket of air pressing down on us. This blanket traps heat, stops clouds from forming (giving us more direct sun), and keeps nights warmer, offering little relief.

Why do these heat blankets get stuck over Wisconsin?

• Atmospheric Gridlock: Sometimes, weather patterns get jammed, like traffic, keeping hot air right over our heads.

• Heat Ridges: Think of these as fingers of hot air extending into our region, bringing warmth.

• City Oven Effect: You might feel it even more if you're in Milwaukee or Madison. Buildings and roads soak up and release more heat than natural areas, turning our cities into "urban heat islands."

The undeniable truth is that these increasingly intense and frequent heat waves aren't just bad luck. They directly result from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. When we burn these, we release "greenhouse gases" like an extra-thick blanket around the Earth.

Here's the link:

• The Warming Blanket: These gases trap heat that would usually escape into space, making our planet hotter overall.

• Higher Baseline: As the Earth warms, even a little, extreme heat events like our Wisconsin heat waves become much more likely and intense.

• Weather Gone Wild: A warmer planet can mess with significant weather patterns, potentially making those heat-trapping systems more common.

• Dry Ground, More Heat: When the ground dries out from the heat, it warms up even faster, worsening the heat wave.

The outlook for Wisconsin, and everywhere else, is more frequent, hotter, and longer-lasting heat waves if we keep burning fossil fuels. What used to be a rare event could become an annual struggle. This isn't just uncomfortable; it's dangerous for our health, crops, power grids, and even our natural spaces, increasing risks like wildfires.

The bottom line: The link between our use of fossil fuels and Wisconsin's increasingly brutal heat waves is clear. To cool down our future, we need to switch to cleaner energy sources and prepare for the heat already on its way. Our choices now will determine just how hot Wisconsin gets.