Because air rotates clockwise around high-pressure systems in the Northern Hemisphere, this caused hot and humid southerly winds to frequently blow across central and eastern states.

But importantly, ocean temperatures in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico — where the air is coming from — have been running higher than normal, adding more moisture and heat to the equation as those winds blow into the United States.

That would have been a great place to mention the weakening AMOC and its potential to drive nonlinear regional increases in the future.