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Summer Comes in with a Bang Setting Heat Records

  • Published: June 21st, 2012
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By Alexandra Kasdin

Summer came in with a bang on Wednesday as 90-degree temperatures across the Northeast set records for heat in many areas.

According to the Associated Press, the scorching hot first day of summer was also the date for countless high school graduations throughout the Northeast. Ambulances stood at the ready at outdoor graduations from New Jersey to Connecticut, prepared to treat onlookers and graduates alike for heat exhaustion.

Credit: flickr/afagen

Predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) noted that thermometers in all states in the Lower 48, besides North Dakota, will also stay above the 90°F mark Thursday and Friday.

Climate studies show that, likely in part because of global warming, there are now many more record highs being set in the U.S. each year compared to record lows. In 2011, the ratio was about three warm temperature records to every cold temperature record.

To track record temperatures in your region, take a look at our Record Temperature Tracker.

You can also see how much your state has warmed over the past 100 years by looking at our “Heat Is On” Interactive map.

Records were set at all three airports in the New York metropolitan area. It was 98°F at both LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, surpassing the previous marks set in 1953. It was also 94°F at JFK International Airport, which topped the previous record of 93°F set in 1995.

The Associated Press also reported that New York City was under a hot-weather advisory and was opening more than 450 cooling centers.

Comments

By A. Scott
on June 26th, 2012

Hey Alexandra - all your scare mongering about record temps and the like is really quite meaningless. I assume you’d agree that NOAA is an acceptable source right? .....

An interesting mapping tool from NOAA: US Contiguous Temperature since 1896 ... thru 2011 the average JUNE temp looked like this .....

US Contiguous Temperature 1896-2011 .....
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/time-series/index.php?parameter=tmp&month=5&year=2012&filter=2&state=110&div=0 .....

The actual average JUNE temp in 2011 and 2010 were virtually identical to JUNE temps in 1897 and 1896 .....

Yeah but you cherry picked and left out 2012 you say . nope ”“ the record does not include June 2012 yet .. but May 2012 WAS warmer than most . however it was exactly the SAME temp as May 1934 ”“ which was also a single year outlier . if you look at May 2011, the temp was nearly identical to May 1895 ”“ and the same as many/majority of May temp readings since 1896 .....

So . you and the rest of the CAGW proponents can post your slick graphs about the vast number of new temp records all you want. They are meaningless. It was JUST AS HOT in May 1934 as May 2012 .....

Like MOST of the extreme claims these days ”“ they are a result of reporting bias ”“ we are simply better at collecting data and reporting it ”“ it is clear from NOAA’s contiguous US record that the extreme numbers of records have had little overall effect on the US average tempos, and the 2012 warm temp is nothing new ”“ we saw the same May temps in 1934 and a few others .....

You can cherry pick all you want but it isn’t going to change the facts - and as NOAA clearly shows those facts are that plethora of new records or not, the warm spring US average temps in 2012 are nothing new. - they are no different than 1934 or other years. Just like the June temps in 2011 where nearly identical to the beginning of this record set in 1895 ...

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