Season's First "Arctic Blast" Inbound; Study: Doing Nothing Feeds Megafires; Antarctic Sea Ice Paper: 130,000 Years of Natural Change; + Arctic Sea Ice Stalls: 20 Years Without Decline

Cue media silence.

Season's First "Arctic Blast" Inbound

A descent of cold Canadian air will dip deep into the Lower 48 next week, knocking temperatures well-below normal. While “Arctic blast” might be overkill for late August, the setup will feel like an early arrival of Fall.

The core of the chill will start in the north this weekend, and by early next week will have targeted the likes of Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas. Forecasts show widespread double-digit departures extending from the Rockies through the Midwest.

Days will resemble October rather than August.

GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) for Aug 26 [tropicaltidbits.com].

For much of the U.S., the final week of August will deliver a premature onset of Fall — cue media silence.

NWS BLEND, daily high anomalies (F) for Aug 27

The same goes for Europe, and all:

GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies for Aug 23 [tropicaltidbits.com].

Study: Doing Nothing Feeds Megafires

Activists insist the best wildfire strategy is to do nothing—leave the forest “untouched,” because cutting trees is bad. But a new simulation study on ponderosa pine forests shows what common sense already told us: the biggest factor in wildfire severity isn’t tree spacing, restoration layouts, or any other management nuance—it’s the mass of fuel left on the ground.