Omega Block' To Keep Northern US Comfortable As Heat Dome Keeps South Blazing Hot

A weather pattern called an "omega block" in western Canada will keep parts of the northern U.S. feeling comfortable by August standards as a heat dome continues to bake Texas and the Southwest.

Here's what the omega block means: An area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere is parked over western Canada. That's forcing southward plunges of the jet stream on both sides of that high, including one dipping south across much of the northern U.S.

Notice how the jet stream pattern – that ribbon of fast-flowing air some 30,000 feet above the ground – described above and depicted in the image below resembles the Greek letter omega: Ω.

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