19 days of 90+ this summer!

Today (Tuesday) was the 19th day this summer of our temperature reaching 90 degrees or higher. Here at the Weather Center in Streetsboro we topped out at 98. Officially at Akron/Canton the mercury hit 101 degrees on July 7th and 99 degrees on July 6th. This could end up only the 3rd highest this month. That's crazy!  Ha Ha!

The 90s started out in late May. May had two 90+ days, June had 10, and so far July has had 7. Add them up and that's 19 days of 90+ this summer.  That's way more than usual.

In fact, these temperatures are the hottest this century. Since 2000, prior to this summer, the highest was only 95 degrees in 2001 and 2002. Here's a look at the official Akron/Canton high temperatures this century:

The temperature hit 98 degrees this afternoon at the WSTB Weather Center

• 2000 - 87 degrees
• 2001 - 95
• 2002 - 95
• 2003 - 89
• 2004 - 87
• 2005 - 93
• 2006 - 92
• 2007 - 92
• 2008 - 91
• 2009 - 90
• 2010 - 92
• 2011 - 94
• 2012 - 101 (so far)

Ah...relief!

Hot is nice in the summer, but too much of a good thing is...well...too much. I'm glad we finally got some cooler air to move into the region. Daytime highs the first part of the week will be in the lower 80s and that's gonna feel downright good.

We did bust a few official records this past week at the Akron/Canton NWS office. The hottest was Saturday when the mercury hit 101 degrees breaking an old record set in 1988. Here at the Weather Center in Streetsboro we only made it up to 99 degrees (sad face).  We could have cracked 100, but a thunderstorm moved through mid-afternoon and in a matter of minutes dropped the mercury from the upper 90s to near 80.

At any rate, the 10 day heat wave is gone...at least for this week.  We could see a return next week (the week of July 15th), so don't get too comfortable just yet.

Here are the daytime highs for the recent heat wave:

Date - NWS Akron/Canton - WSTB Weather Center

Thursday, June 28 - 95 / 95

Friday, June 29 - 96 / 95

Saturday, June 30 - 90 / 91

Sunday, July 1 - 94 / 93

Monday, July 2 - 92 / 92

Tuesday, July 3 - 85 / 83

Wednesday, July 4 - 96 / 96

Thursday, July 5 - 90 / 88

Friday, July 6 - 99 / 97

Saturday, July 7 - 101 / 99

The heat is on...for now

Five days of 90+, then finally a break on Tuesday (in the mid 80s), but right back at it now through Saturday. Ah, but, then...relief is on the way for next week.


Here's what he had recently for daytime highs:


Thursday, June 28th - 95
Friday, June 29th - 96
Saturday, June 30th - 90
Sunday, July 1st - 94
Monday, July 2nd - 92
Tuesday, July 3rd - 85 (lots of clouds with rain)
Wednesday, July 4th - 91 and climbing as of 12:30pm


The 90+ temperatures will continue into Saturday.  Sunday will cool down a tad, but then next week more refreshing air will invade the region with daytime highs around 80 to start the week. We will then warm up again late week, but I don't think it will be "90s hot", just in the mid 80s.

What a difference a year makes

I'm siting here on Wednesday morning looking at the forecast with NO RAIN through the weekend. So, I figured I'd go back and compare the dry spring we have had this year with the wet one we had last year. Yeah. Well that can leave one rather depressed.  I looked at April, May, and June (through mid-month) for 2011 and 2012.  By this time last year in those two and a half months we had recorded 10" more rainfall (13.93") than we have had this year (3.95"). Wow! That's quite a diference...from a flood to a drought in 365 days.
For the remainder of the summer conditions may improve a bit.  The forecast is for normal to a bit above normal precipitation here in eastern Ohio. But, we are quite a bit behind where we should be this Spring. Rainfall-wise for April, May, and the first half of June should be at 9.75".  Instead we are 5.8" BELOW that number. That's certainly not good news for you gardeners.  I've been hearing you, but unfortunately I just predict the weather, I don't make it.

Memorial Day weekend looking good

Looks like a nice Memorial Day weekend coming up.  Lots of sun with temps 85-90. Enjoy!

What snow?

Total storm snowfall
(Map courtesy of National Weather Service)

Well, that was a nothing storm. As noted previously, I didn't expect much...no more than an inch or two of snow by Tuesday morning. In fact we got less than that. In fact we got virtually nothing...no rain and no snow. The storm system had a sharp cutoff on the western edge as we expected. Some snow did fall in the Youngstown area, but even that didn't accumulate much. You can check out the map to the left to see where the snow actually did fall.
Conditions will gradually improve the rest of this week. Our normal daytime highs should by in the mid 60s.  We won't get there, but at least we will warm into the 50s.
Enjoy!

Ha Ha Ha! Snow!

Gads...you gotta love NE Ohio in the springtime and this year has been really bizzarre. Anyhow, it looks like another round of snow and wind is heading into the area overnight Monday into Tuesday morning.

Total snowfall expect through midday Tuesday.
(Map courtesty of AccuWeather)

The scenario is that a big storm system is heading up the east coast.  That LOW will cause lots of snow to fall in the mountains of Pennsylvania and extreme eastern Ohio. The drop-off in snowfall rates will be rapid (see the map) with the Youngstown area getting up to half a foot of snow by midday Tuesday.  Locally we are looking an inch or two in Portage County and around an inch in Summit County. That's not a lot of snow, but it will be of a heavy, wet variety and combined with strong winds could cause some problems for power lines and tree branches.

During the day Monday we will have occasional rain, then after dark the rain will change to snow.  The snow will continue into Tuesday morning before it changes back to rain. If you plan to head east into the Youngstown/Pittsburgh area Tuesday morning you can expect some nasty driving conditions.

Daytime highs will remain in the 50s the rest of the week.