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- Written by: Lake County News reports
UPDATE: Police say he has been located.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department is asking for the community’s help in finding a missing teenager.
Shawn Rodriguez Stokes, 17, was last seen in the area of Sunset and Davis avenues.
He is a Hispanic male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Police said he was last seen wearing a white long sleeve shirt, purple Jordan sweatpants, animal print Air Force shoes.
If you have any information regarding his whereabouts please contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251, Extension 1 for dispatch.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The fire began on July 20 east of Clearlake Oaks in the Walker Ridge area, along the Lake and Colusa County line.
Cal Fire said it burned a total of 2,756 acres.
The fire prompted evacuations as 50 structures were threatened. Cal Fire did not report any damage to structures.
In addition to Lake County’s firefighters, Cal Fire recognized law enforcement, including the Lake County Sheriff's Office and Colusa County Sheriff's Office, for their assistance.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Ongoing heat domes have blanketed much of the United States this summer, shattering temperature records and threatening the health and safety of millions of Americans.
California has experienced record-breaking, dangerously high temperatures this summer, as cities including Bishop, Palmdale, Lancaster and Barstow-Daggett Airport recorded at least four consecutive days with temperatures of 110 degrees or more, with Palm Springs totaling 22 straight days.
Death Valley reached at least 125 degrees for nine straight days, and Ukiah, Redding, Palmdale and Lancaster all recently experienced their warmest weeks on record.
However, despite heat domes becoming more prevalent and more severe, there is currently no official, standardized federal definition for these events.
Formalizing a federal definition for heat domes is critical to provide clarity and help unlock federal funding and coordinate disaster responses across federal agencies.
The American Meteorological Society, or AMS, defines a heat dome as “an exceptionally hot air mass that develops when high pressure aloft prevents warm air below from rising, thus trapping the warm air as if it were in a dome.”
“As the foremost government agency tasked with defining hazardous weather and natural disasters, we believe the [National Weather Service] has a responsibility to define heat domes,” wrote the senators. “… We believe such a definition will be essential in improving interagency responses to extreme heat and will help save lives.”
Heat-related deaths have increased throughout the United States in recent years, with approximately 2,302 deaths in 2023, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
In California, extreme heat exposure caused about 3,900 deaths from 2010 to 2019, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.
In addition to Senator Padilla, the letter is signed by Senators Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
The full text of the letter is available below.
Dear Director Graham,
We write to request that the National Weather Service (NWS) publish a federal definition for the increasingly frequent weather phenomena known as “heat domes.” Despite heat domes becoming more prevalent and more severe, there is currently no official, standardized federal definition for these events.
Over the past two months, we saw deadly heat domes blanket much of the country, leading to record high temperatures for tens of millions of Americans. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued extreme heat advisories for much of the Southwest, where temperatures reached 113 degrees in Phoenix and 122 degrees in Death Valley. The heat domes then shifted eastward, setting record high temperatures from Texas to Georgia to New England.
During the heat dome in late June, the NWS also recorded two record highs in Maryland just days apart – June 24th in Beltsville and June 26th in Baltimore. Several news outlets have reported that the region’s “second-hottest summer” has led to a surge in heat-related hospitalizations and deaths and may even trigger a drought in Virginia. Coastal states and their major cities, which are often heat islands, experience the compounding impact of heat domes during heat waves due to their proximity to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
We commend the NWS for declaring excessive heat advisories and helping state and local governments stay aware of the threats that these heat domes pose. Tragically, heat-related deaths have been increasing in the U.S., with approximately 2,302 deaths in 2023, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The grave human threat from heat domes requires a precise definition that can be universally applied across federal agencies.
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) defines a heat dome as “an exceptionally hot air mass that develops when high pressure aloft prevents warm air below from rising, thus trapping the warm air as if it were in a dome. The subsidence associated with the high pressure also causes further warming by compression. Heat domes are often associated with calm upper-level flow directly overhead and/or with blocking patterns.” News outlets have also provided similar definitions for the public to understand this natural weather phenomenon, but an official federal definition is needed for clarity and for coordinating responses.
As the foremost government agency tasked with defining hazardous weather and natural disasters, we believe the NWS has a responsibility to define heat domes. We strongly urge the NWS to utilize existing scientific definitions, including the definition published by the AMS, to publish a federal definition of heat domes to the NWS Glossary and any other publicly available information database. We believe such a definition will be essential in improving interagency responses to extreme heat and will help save lives.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
In response to questions from Lake County News about the early July heat wave, the National Weather Service’s Eureka office offered an analysis of 30 years of data from long term weather stations in Lake County, most of them used for fire weather.
James White of the National Weather Service reviewed data from a RAWS weather station on the slopes of Mt. Konocti that has been in place since 1995.
Of that station's top 10 high temperatures ever recorded, four occurred in the first two weeks of July, White said.
Those four top temperatures were as follows:
• No. 1: July 6, 112 degrees.
• No. 2: July 7, 110 degrees (tied for second with Sept. 6, 2022, and July 10, 2002).
• No. 5: July 5, 109 degrees (tied for fifth with June 25, 2006, and July 11, 2002).
• No. 8: July 13, 108 degrees (tied for eighth with Sept. 5, 2022; Sept. 2, 1998; and Aug. 4, 1998).
“That information is impressive in its own right. Looking at the same station, it is clear this heat wave was exceptionally long lived,” White said. “For example at the same station, this past heatwave had by far the hottest 10 day average of any heatwave.”
White said that the period of July 3 to July 13, 2024, had an average daily high of 107, which “blows the next highest record out of the water.”
That next highest heat period was the 10 days from July 15 to July 25, 2006, which had an average daily high of 103, White said.
“The longevity of the heat wave is also obvious in the number of days over 100,” White said.
He pointed out that there were 12 days in a row with highs over 100 degrees at the Konocti RAWS weather station between July 1 and July 13.
White said that also tops the previous record of eight days over 100 degrees, which occurred between Aug. 8 and Aug. 16, 2002.
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