I was just looking over the climate summary records at the Raleigh NWS office. Its pretty depressing stuff: August was the hottest month ever recorded for Raleigh. Now that September’s in the bag it will be interesting to see how many 90-degree days it held.
Below is the public information statement describing this summer’s records. The facts and figures from the official climate summary is here.
NOUS42 KRAH 011843 PNSRAH
NCZ007>011-021>028-038>043-073>078-083>086-088>089-030000-PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
240 PM EDT SAT SEP 01 2007…AUGUST 2007 HOTTEST MONTH OF ALL TIME AT RALEIGH-DURHAM (RDU) AND
GREENSBORO (GSO)…AUGUST 2007 WAS THE HOTTEST MONTH OF ALL TIME AT RALEIGH DURHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (RDU).THE AUGUST 2007 AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT RDU WAS 84.1F (6.9 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL). THIS BREAKS THE PREVIOUS ALL TIME HIGHEST MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 82.5F SET IN JULY OF 1993… AND OBLITERATES THE PREVIOUS HIGHEST AUGUST AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 80.6 (RDU) SET IN 1995. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE 84.1 DEGREES IN 2007 WAS ALSO THE HIGHEST MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DATING ALL THE WAY BACK TO 1887…WHEN THE OFFICIAL RALEIGH CLIMATE SITE WAS IN DOWNTOWN RALEIGH.
HERE WERE THE PREVIOUS (UNTIL AUGUST 2007) TOP 5 WARMEST AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FOR AUGUST ON RECORD: (SINCE 1944)
1) 80.6/1995
2) 80.5/2006
3) 80.3/1988
4) 80.2/2005
5) 80.0/199920 NEW TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE SET (13 RECORDS BROKEN AND 7 TIED) AT RDU DURING AUGUST 2007. THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 105 DEGREES WAS TIED AT THE RDU AIRPORT ON AUGUST 21ST 2007. 105 DEGREES WAS PREVIOUSLY REACHED ON 8/18/1988 AND 7/23/1952. THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE (WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE) OF 78 DEGREES WAS TIED ON AUGUST 9TH 2007. A LOW OF 78 DEGREES HAS BEEN RECORDED ON THREE OTHER DATES AS WELL… 7/08/1986… 7/13/1981… AND 8/14/1995. PLEASE REFERENCE THE CLIMATE MONTHLY SUMMARY PRODUCT FOR RDU FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF THESE RECORDS… WHICH IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT: WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/DATA/RAH/CLMRDU
THE RECORDS DON`T STOP THERE…HOWEVER. IN AUGUST 2007…THERE WERE 30 DAYS WHERE THE TEMPERATURE REACHED OR EXCEEDED 90 DEGREES AT RDU… WHICH IS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF 90 DEGREES DAYS IN ANY SINGLE MONTH. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 25 DAYS IN JULY OF 2005. IN ADDITION…THERE WERE 20 CONSECUTIVE 90 DEGREE DAYS…FROM AUGUST 12TH TO AUGUST 31ST…WHICH RANKS FOURTH ON THE CONSECUTIVE 90 DEGREE DAYS RECORD LIST. THE MOST CONSECUTIVE 90 DEGREE DAYS AT RDU IS 24… SET IN 1995. THIS RECORD APPEARS SAFE…SINCE THE FORECAST HIGH TEMPERATURES THIS WEEKEND AT RDU ARE EXPECTED TO BE BELOW 90 DEGREES.
WHILE THE DATA LISTED BELOW ARE NOT NECESSARILY ALL TIME RECORD EVENTS…THEY ARE NEVERTHELESS MEANINGFUL STATISTICS THAT FURTHER DESCRIBE THE HOT CONDITIONS EXPERIENCED ACROSS CENTRAL NC DURING AUGUST AND THE SUMMER OF 2007:
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF 90 DEGREE DAYS FOR THE SEASON (THROUGH AUGUST 31) AT RALEIGH-DURHAM IS 66. THE RECORD FOR A SEASON IS 72… SET IN 1953.
THE TEMPERATURE REACHED OR EXCEEDED 100 DEGREES FOR THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS FROM AUGUST 8TH THROUGH THE 10TH AT RDU. THE RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE 100 DEGREE DAYS IS FOUR…SET IN AUGUST OF 1983.
AUGUST 2007 WAS NOT ONLY HOT…BUT ALSO VERY DRY. THE AUGUST 2007 MONTHLY RAINFALL WILL RANK AS THE SECOND DRIEST AUGUST ON RECORD. THE AUGUST MONTHLY RAINFALL AT RDU IS 0.91″ (2.87″ BELOW THE 30 YEAR NORMAL).
HERE WERE THE DRIEST AUGUSTS ON RECORD AT RDU (SINCE 1944):
1) 0.81/1950
2) 1.01/1997
3) 1.13/1984
4) 1.31/1956
5) 1.52/1976