At least thirteen are now confirmed dead from the storms that ravaged through the Mid-Atlantic yesterday, and three million homes are without power as temperatures headed up into the triple digits today. Winds that topped hurricane strength resulted in damage that was equally as devastating. Power in some areas may not be restored for a week.

911 call centers were knocked out in some areas forcing police and fire to ask that people make reports in person rather than by phone. States of Emergency were declared in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington DC and Ohio.

Damage was light in some areas, but the resultant damage still downed power lines as per these photos:

This heat wave has brought about renewed debate among some about global climate change. NBC’s Chief Washington Meteorologist Doug Kammerer, “If we did not have global warming, we wouldn’t see this.”

He is not the only one making statements like this. Here is another:

The tropics and much of the Northern Hemisphere are likely to experience an irreversible rise in summer temperatures within the next 20 to 60 years if atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to increase….

“According to our projections, large areas of the globe are likely to warm up so quickly that, by the middle of this century, even the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest summers of the past 50 years,” said the study’s lead author, Noah Diffenbaugh, The study, based on observations and models, finds that most major countries, including the United States, are “likely to face unprecedented climate stresses even with the relatively moderate warming expected over the next half-century.”

Vermont has seen a rise in average temperature by six tenths of a degree per decade since 1970. In 1970, the average temperature in Vermont was just over 43° to just under an annual average of 45°. It makes Vermont the fifth fastest heating state in the US.