July 2011 Heat Wave and Hurricanes

This is category 3 Typhoon Ma-on on July 16th in the West Pacific south of Japan:
Its peak strength was category 4 with winds to 115 knots (135 mph) on July 15th. It later struck southern Japan on July 19 as a category 1.

On July 16th, a dangerous heat wave prompted the issuance of excessive heat warnings (shown in violet) across most of the Midwest:
On July 17th, the 500 mb geopotential height at Omaha, NE (KOAX) was 6,000 meters:
SPC's mesoanalysis showed 9,000 CAPE in southeast North Dakota:
This produced a tornado in LaMoure County which was rated a high end EF3 despite being in a very rural area (population only 4,139 for the entire County).

By July 20th, the heat wave had spread into the Great Lakes:
And by the 21st, the East Coast:
At 21Z (4PM CDT) on July 20th, another questionable tropical system was named. Tropical Storm Cindy began at 35.2 latitude, 53.8 longitude and then moved to the northeast. It can be seen at the right edge of this water vapor image:
Meanwhile in the East Pacific, category 4 Hurricane Dora developed an enormous eye:
It reached a peak strength of 929 mb and 135 knot winds 11 hours later ( July 21, 15Z).

A July 29 marathon race in western Montana was canceled because of snow cover so deep that it covered the signs which mark the trails.

This is Typhoon Muifa from July 31st:
It was category 5 on July 30th with winds at 140 knots.