Posted: Tuesday, September 01, 2020
Last Edited: Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Taking a look at our local climate numbers for the summer season, and the month of August. Plus, a quick look at what we might expect weather-wise for the fall.
September 1 marks the end of meteorological summer and the beginning of meteorological fall. Most of us consider the autumn equinox as the start of autumn but we do seasons just a little different when it comes to weather and climate records just to keep things neat and tidy.
Before we take a look at the numbers for summer, let’s take a look at how August played out here in New Philadelphia.
SUMMER 2020
Basically, the summer of 2020 played out as most of us already suspect. It was hot and dry. While that’s probably not a big surprise to anyone reading this, I’ll show you the LOCAL numbers that back up that line of thinking.
Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights…
TEMPERATURE
Our summer here in the Valley was one of the hottest we’ve seen recently. And, as is always the case, July was the hottest month of the summer season.
Temperatures in the 90s are not unusual in the summer here and this year brought plenty of them. We managed to reach 90° or higher on a total of 25 days during meteorological summer this year. The only year we had more 90-degree days was back in 2016.
The average temperature in the Valley for the summer as a whole was 73.4°. That’s good enough to make it the second hottest summer in recent years.
PRECIPITATION
As our local agri-business owners and lawns will tell you, it was very dry this summer locally. After being classified as Abnormally Dry for the majority of August by the U.S. Drought Monitor, we did manage to get a good soaking rain this past week. Despite the recent rain, it did not do much to help improve our lack of precipitation for the season. This summer will go down in the books as the third driest summer in recent years.
Generally speaking, total rainfall for the summer was down by about 25-percent in the east-central Ohio region.
SEPTEMBER AND AUTUMN OUTLOOKS
While September will start out warm and humid, this should only persist for a few days. By Friday, temperatures will cool off behind a cold front. The cooler air will also sweep the humidity out for the Labor Day weekend.
Beyond that, the NWS Climate Prediction Center is leaning more toward a warmer than average September.
The CPC also indicates that they do not see a clear signal that precipitation will be more or less than normal.
September brings big changes in two ways – a drop in average temperatures and less daylight as the days grow shorter. On average we lose 10° in our daytime high temperature during the month. We will also lose 1 hour and 17 minutes of daylight by September 30.
By the way, astronomical autumn, the day fall officially arrives, occurs on September 22.
Thank you!!!!!
This monthly outlook and ‘outback’ is always so interesting. Thanks for keeping track.