Seeing smoke on the weather map is a little like seeing your ex at Costco. Oh no. No. No. We can rationalize the sloppy storms and noisy fronts (hey, we need the rain!), but smoke? Nope.
A new paper out on Tuesday based on tree-ring data speculates that 2023 was the warmest year worldwide in 2,000 years. The study’s authors described this as “unparalleled.”
Odds favor another hotter-than-average summer and more annoying smoke fronts. A longer allergy season. Higher dew points. Accelerating drought in some counties. The upside of warming? A seven-month boating season this year, and winters aren’t as forbidding as they were 50 years ago.
Today’s warm front (mid-80s by midafternoon) sparks thunderstorms up north, and a few may drift into the metro area late tonight and Saturday morning. Expect low 80s tomorrow in spite of a few morning thunderclaps. Sunday starts out sunny and dry, but the next storm arrives with more heavy showers and storms late Sunday.
A little rain. A little sunshine. A risk of smoke?
