Free Republic

Roughly 130 million people in 22 states are under various heat warnings, watches and advisories as a dangerous heat dome settles over a huge section of the county. The searing August heat wave is forecast to continue through at least the end of this week. The National Weather Service says a potent upper-level ridge is anchored over the Mid-Mississippi Valley, trapping the hot air. It is bringing oppressive heat from the central U.S. to the Gulf Coast. High temperatures throughout these areas are forecast to reach into the upper 90s and low 100s through Thursday.

Hang on to that plywood — Florida may be in for yet another angst-filled summer. Mere months after the ill-fated hurricane season that sent Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne flying through the state like back-to-back-to-back-to-back hand grenades, the world's weather patterns again appear to be aligning against us. El Nino, which could deter the storms from spawning, is waning. A decade-long trend of warmer, hurricane-friendly temperatures continues in the North Atlantic's waters. And, perhaps most worrisome for Florida, the Bermuda High still lurks in the western Atlantic. The subtropical ridge of high pressure became infamous in 2004 as one of...