Currently in Miami — August 23, 2023: An uptick in thunderstorms

The weather, currently.

The arrival of an upper-level trough from the western Atlantic will create an unstable atmosphere more favorable for shower and thunderstorm development on Wednesday despite relatively low moisture levels. This will increase the coverage of showers from isolated on Tuesday to scattered on Wednesday. And while the trough will allow for the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm or two, these will likely be short-lived. Daytime temperatures will remain consistent in the low to mid 90s, but a slight uptick in humidity should bring heat indices back into the triple digits.

El tiempo, actualmente.

La llegada de una vaguada en los altos niveles de la atmósfera desde el Atlántico occidental creará un ambiente inestable más favorable para el desarrollo de aguaceros y tormentas eléctricas el miércoles a pesar de niveles de humedad relativamente bajos. Esto aumentará la cobertura de lluvia de aislada el martes a dispersa el miércoles. Y aunque la vaguada permitirá la posibilidad de una o dos tormentas eléctricas aisladas, es probable que estas sean de corta duración. Las temperaturas diurnas permanecerán en los rangos bajo a medio de los 90 grados, pero un ligero aumento en la humedad provocará el regreso de índices de calor de 100° o más.

—John Morales

What you need to know, currently.

Drought has forced a major slowdown in ship traffic at the Panama Canal, with more than 200 ships waiting up to three weeks to cross.

In an official statement, the Panama Canal Authority said the current drought situation “has no historical precedence.”

Each crossing of the canal uses 51 million gallons of water from nearby lakes, and those lakes are running low. Panama is facing its lowest rainfall since the canal opened in 1914, worsened by climate change and a strengthening El Niño in the Pacific.

It’s not clear how long the situation could last, but some shippers have already been adding surcharges to goods passing through the canal — raising fears that the slowdown could worsen inflation globally.

—Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

The fires in Maui have struck at the heart of Hawaiian heritage, and if you’d like to support survivors, here are good places to start:

The fires burned through the capital town of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the ancestral and present home to native Hawaiians on their original unceded lands. One of the buildings destroyed was the Na ‘Aikane o Maui cultural center, a gathering place for the Hawaiian community to organize and celebrate.

If you’d like to help the community rebuild and restore the cultural center, a fund has been established that is accepting donations — specify “donation for Na ‘Aikane” on this Venmo link.