 |
| It's been remarkably warm in Vermont and much of the Northeast since early August, so I'll give you this photo to cool off for now. |
A remarkably long stretch of hot weather is peaking, and there are several pretty impressive stats on the warmth that began earlier this summer and continued into September.
A plethora of records has been tied or broken in and around Burlington the past few days.
That 94 degree reading Monday was tied for the third hottest temperature of any September day, in records going back to the 1880s.
Monday was also Burlington's hottest Labor Day on record. The low temperature of 72 degrees was a record high minimum for the date. And the water temperature in Lake Champlain was 75 degrees on Monday, the latest in the season the water has been so warm.
A truly wild thing is how persistent the warmth has been in the second half of this summer.
The last cooler than normal day in Burlington was August 8, when it was a middling six degrees chillier than average.
Every day since then has been warmer than average except for August 27 which was exactly normal, National Weather Service data shows. Today will be the 31st day in a row with at or above normal temperatures.
It's very unusual for temperatures to stay at or above normal for that long. I don't know what the record for longest at or above normal streak is, but we have to be up there in Burlington.
The hot streak is even more impressive around New York City. As of yesterday, Central Park had had 60 consecutive days of temperatures of 80 degrees or more. That's a record long stretch. Newark, New Jersey as of yesterday had 65 consecutive days of 80 or more, also a record
The streak will continue this week. Temperatures in Vermont and the rest of New England will be way, way above normal during the first half of the week. Some record highs, and some record high low temperatures are possible in some areas today and Wednesday.
Other areas have been hot, too. Many cities in the Pacific Northwest had their hottest summer on record.
Caribou, Maine, having survived its coldest winter on record earlier this year, had its hottest August on record.
Caribou is just one example of how the late summer warmth is a big contrast to this past February, which was one of the coldest on record. In Burlington, Vermont, the 38 days ending on March 3, only two days were warmer than normal. And even then, just barely.
The recent warmth has not made up for the early year cold. The year 2015 is so far still running a bit cooler than average in Burlington. That's a contrast to the world as a whole, which is on pace to have its hottest year on record.
Blame El Nino and climate change for that hot world temperature streak.
In Burlington, the way I see it, the first chance of breaking the long stretch of higher than normal temperatures is Saturday or Sunday, but even that is iffy. Readings will be pretty close to normal next weekend.
I don't see signs of any super nasty cold waves coming in through mid-September.
By the way, yesterday was the seventh day of 90 degree readings this year. Normal for a summer is about six, so Burlington isn't too far off that mark.
It's been wicked dry lately, too. Only 0.02. inches of rain has fallen on Burlington since August 22. That is until very early this morning, when an additional 0.14 fell. Whoop de doo.
Rain, some of it even locally heavy, is due in Vermont midweek. At least we hope so.
No comments:
Post a Comment