U.S. heat waves of spring and summer 2012 from the flow-analogue perspective [in "Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective"]
Cattiaux, Julien ; Yiou, Pascal
The contiguous United States experienced extremely high temperature anomalies during the year 2012, especially during spring and summer east of the Rocky Mountains (Fig. 4.1, top). This exceptional heat wave, causing important socio-environmental damages due to the heat stress, was associated with a severe drought, additionally accounting for the spreading of wildfires over broad regions. We aim to put such an episode in the context of longer-term climate variability and change. However, this piece should be viewed as a "process-attribution" analysis rather than a formal attribution study (e.g., an evaluation of the anthropogenic fingerprint). Our focus is on the contribution of atmospheric circulation to the U.S. heat wave of spring-summer 2012, which we evaluate through a flow-analogue approach similar to the analysis of 2011 European temperatures by Cattiaux and Yiou (2012; hereafter CY12).
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