I thought August was supposed to be hot

When I was growing up, it always seemed that August was the hotest month of the summer.  Remember the line "the dog days of August?" Seems that July is in the race this year. Yesterday (Thursday, 7/21) we topped out at 97 at the Weather Center. Cleveland Hopkins tied their record set in 1952 with a 97.  Toledo blew their record out of the water.  The old high was 99 in 1930.  They beat it by three maxing out at 102 degrees.

For us, the worst of the heat is over for now.  We are still going to be well above normal and the mercury will still flirt with 90 from time to time, but the 95+ temperatures have left the building, hopefully for the remainder of the summer.

This weekend is going to be warm...around 90 both days...but, then will we cool down a tad into the mid 80s for a few days.  It does look like another mass of hot air will push through the area late next week and into the weekend, but it will not be as prolonged or as hot as this one was...just lower 90s. (Actually, I'm waiting for nighttime lows to drop back into the lower 60s and upper 50s. That's makes for a very pleasant morning.)

Anyhow, enjoy what's left of July.  The outlook for August is for normal temperatures, so there is some relief coming down the pike about the second week of the month.

Warm and wet since April

I thought I would go back and take a look at temperatures and precip and see what has happened so far this year.  The bottom line is that since February we have had above normal precipitation and since April temperatures have been warmer than normal.

As for the rainfall/snowfall category, we have averaged more than 150% above normal from February through June. That's wet.  So far, though, July is running below normal.  We are halfway through the month with only 1/3 our normal rainfall.

Temperature-wise, March was last month when the mercury averaged below normal. From April through mid-July we are running +2.65 degrees.

Here's the breakdown:

Month        Temperature Departure     Precip % of Normal

February               - 0.1                                  194%
March                   - 1.3                                  141%
April                     + 2.8                                 146%
May                      + 3.5                                 183%
June                      + 1.6                                 152%
July (thru 7/15)          +2.7                                    33%

As for the future, it looks like temperatures will remain well above normal through the end of July. Things will return more to normal in early August and probably remain there into Fall.

It's gonna get hot, hot, hot!

(Graphic courtesy of  Accuweather)

July heat is on the way and it's going to start moving into the region this weekend.  An upper level high pressure system will move into the midwest and that's going to clear skies and the heat that has permeated the southwest this week is going to head east.  There's some debate on exactly how hot temperatures are going to get, but I would expect to see the mercury up near 90 higher every day next week. We could see a day or two in the upper 80s if some "dirty clouds" move into the region, but most of that is expected to stay south of here.

So, enjoy the rest of this week because once we hit the weekend it could be very toasty for the rest of July.
(Remember spring?  LOL)

4th of July looks pleasant

(Map courtesy of www.accuweather.com)

As we head into the holiday weekend, the weather seems to be cooperating. Saturday will probably be the least desirable day of the three, but even that won't be too bad.

A cold front is going to push through the area Saturday night/Sunday morning.  Out ahead of it on Saturday it's going to be hot and muggy.  Temperatures will top out round 90 with the dew point up around 70.  Yuk!  We'll also mix in a few isolated thunderstorms.

That whole package will move out by midday Sunday and the rest of the holiday looks good. Temperatures on Sunday and Monday will be in the 80-85 degree range with lots of sun and much lower humidity.

Best wishes for a happy 4th of July weekend.

(BTW...stop and see us Saturday from 9am-5pm at the Kent Heritage Festival and Monday in the Stow Fourth of July Parade.)