A record July and start to the year......(8-13-12)
The National Weather Service has run the numbers for July 2012 and it was a record breaker. It broke the old record set in 1936 by .2 F. That makes it not only the hottest July but the hottest month for the lower 48 states since national records began in 1985. I thought I would include this map that ranks the heat for July by state.
On this map, the higher the number the hotter month. While only Virginia had their hottest July on record more than 30 states had either a top ten or even top five hottest month. For example, New York had its 6th warmest July on record.The heat here in Syracuse in July (we were almost 5 degrees above normal) continues a trend that has gone on for much of the year so far. Only April had below normal temperatures. I blogged a month ago about the first half of the year being the warmest on record for Syracuse. Here is where we stand after seven months (after adding July):| Year | Jan.-July Temp. |
| 2012 | 52.2 F |
| 1933 | 50.6 F |
| 1921 | 50.4 F |
| 1949 | 49.8 F |
| 1998 | 49.5 F |
| 1991 | 49.5 F |
Here is an interesting chart I came across from NOAA last week. It really brings home the impacts of a warmer than normal winter, a record breaking March and now the heat of this summer over much of the country.
The lines show the running totals of the temperature anomalies (how far above or below normal temperatures are) You see the lines all over the place on the left for January because you are only taking one month into account. As you go through the whole year (moving from left to right) and include more months the anomalies decrease. By the end of the December most years anomalies end up clustered between +/- 1.5 F. This chart doesn’t show just a few years but it goes all the way back to 1895 so what you are looking at is 116 years of records for the lower 48 states.The take away from this chart is pretty simple. For the country as a whole temperatures so far this year are not only above normal but well above the rate of any year in over 100 years of records.
Copyright 2012 Newport Television LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
