TheClimateChanger

The 4.19" of rain since midnight (eastern standard time) currently ranks this as the 8th wettest day on record in the Akron area since 1896. Radar shows more heavy showers and thunderstorms slowly pushing into the area, so additional rainfall is likely.

So far, the rain today has stayed just to my north, other than maybe a few sprinkles. Been hearing thunder for about an hour. Not far outside of our area, Akron-Canton Airport had 4.07" of rain in 1 hour and 25 minutes, between 10:20 and 11:50 am. So these storms are very capable of torrential downpours and flash flooding.

In 1 hour & 25 minutes [10:25 - 11:50 am], 4.07" of rain was observed at Akron-Canton Regional Airport in Ohio. Storm total up to 4.18" as of 12:30 pm.

Have we gotten an all-time record eighth day at BWI yet?

Yesterday's 90F reading at Bradford Regional Airport was the sixth so far this year, leaving 2024 just 2 shy of the calendar year record set in 1988. Still 152 days to tack on some more. 3 of the last 5 years have reached 90F at least once, which might not sound too impressive. But historically, the vast majority of years have not had any days at or above 90F.

Humidex has probably been off the chart the last few days with these dewpoints as high as 77F/25C. Toronto Pearson International Airport Weather History

Plenty of high heat in that region this summer. Today was the 14th day above 86F/30C at Buffalo (the 13 indicated below is missing today's high of 88F). Only 7 years since 1873 had more through August 1. I guess it's just somehow missed Pearson International Airport. The mean temperature of 72.2F at Buffalo is 4th highest on record for the first two months of meteorological summer since records began in 1873.

Looks like another 91F high today.

Another thing to keep in mind is how they define normals. They keep jacking the so-called "normal" value up and up, especially in the summertime. Really the should be called climatological abnormals. In looking through the old records, I noticed the July normal mean temperature has been raised a full 3.6F (2.0C) for both Erie, Pennsylvania and Toledo, Ohio, since the 1980s. For these locations, the NWS now says a normal August is about 2F warmer than a normal July 35 years ago, and a normal June is nearly as warm as a normal July 35 years. At what point are they going to start telling us its normal for September to be warmer than a normal July in the late 20th century? Just took a look at LaGuardia, and it's not up quite as much, but still +2.8F from the 1980s. Curiously, the July mean at Newark is only up +1.4F since the 1980s. It's an odd dynamic. A normal July at EWR was considered to be 0.4F warmer than a normal July at LGA in the 1980s. Today, a normal July at EWR is considered to be 1.1F cooler than a normal July at LGA. But if you look at recent years, it looks like EWR is again the warm spot among the two in the month of July. Not sure why they would bounce around like that, but I would expect EWR's normal to be increased precipitously in another 7 years.

I, for one, am really looking forward to getting some more years under our belt in this new climate regime to see what it's really capable of doing from an extreme weather standpoint. This is one thing I've thought about in the past. The "extremes" we've seen might just be slightly off the norms for the climate, the true extremes of natural variability in this regime might not yet have come close to having been realized.

Looks like CPC is on board with a cooler period next week, so today might be the last opportunity for a 90F for awhile, although Sunday and Monday might be close but right now look like mid to upper 80s. We're sort of on the edge of the cooler than normal area, so it might not be super cool but 90+ weather certainly looks unlikely during that stretch.

Nice. Your area looked like one of the jackpots on radar. The CoCoRAHS site in Saxonburg had 2.96 inches, I think.

Close. Current base period is 1/1/1991 through 12/31/2020. Also, it’s not an exact average. Historically, it’s smoothed and normalized to prevent chaotic jumps throughout the year. And - I’ll probably get in trouble for bringing this up - but I noticed in the most recent iteration, some sites had normals higher than the means would suggest. Perhaps, the NWS was beta testing some sort of new global warming factor to see if it would produce a more equal number of warmer and cooler years by adding a certain amount to the 30-year means.

16th on the year. 19th most in the threaded record for the YTD [i.e. through July], but most of the higher years were from the 19th century when the thermometer at Pittsburgh was doing "special" things. Tied with 1931 for ninth highest since 1901. Continues to trail only 1988, 1966 & 2012 at the airport site. One higher than 1999 & 1991.

Yup, 90F as of the 2:51 pm observation.

Interesting observation.

Has reached at least 87F at PIT today, so far. Still looks like it will be a close one right on the cusp of 89/90. It is pushing/reaching 90 in the western parts of the county warning area (HLG, PHD & ZZV) where there was less rainfall in recent days.

As far as the allegation of manipulation to this data made by a certain poster or posters (not here). I find little evidence of any sort of systematic cooling of the past and warming of the present, which is the allegation frequently made. Admittedly, they are slightly different, but not in a way suggesting some sort of manipulation. In fact, if you look at NCDC, you'll see the divisional averages for July 1988, 1998 and 2022 for the Southwest Plateau division of Pennsylvania are all somewhat lower from what was reported in the monthly climate review publication. Now given as 73.4F (-0.3F), 69.7F (-1.1F), and 72.0F (-0.9F), respectively.

Just compare the PIT mean to the divisional average in 1988. 76.9F versus a divisional average of 73.7F (+3.2F). In 1998, a very typical July around western Pennsylvania. You'll see it was still in the 50s in most places. But PIT was only 0.4F warmer than the divisional average. In the interest of full disclosure, you'll see it's started to widen again in recent years. July 2022, for instance, saw a mean of 74.2F at PIT versus a divisional average of 72.9F (+1.3F). But that probably reflects a growing UHI effect in the area.

Hey, I don't lie when I say the thermometer at PIT was garbage then. Almost like the "urban heat island" became smaller over time.

More shenanigans. Erie, PA... in 1988, the normal July temperature was considered to be 69.1F. Today, it's 72.7F, an absurd 3.6F (2C) warmer. Which is a massive change for a low variability summer month over 3 decades. Literally, a normal July in Erie today would have been considered a very hot July just 35 years ago. Let that sink in. A normal August at Erie is now 2.4F warmer than a normal July was just a little over 30 years ago, and a normal June less than 1F cooler. The normal low temperature for July is now just a handful of degrees cooler than the normal mean temperature just a little over 30 years ago. And most recent Julys have had mean low temperatures just 2-3F cooler than the normal mean of 1990. Absolutely bonkers. Sorry for the rants.

I'm gonna say no. If you look at data from the 1980s and 1990s, outside of the heat island, it routinely dropped into the 50s on the majority of July nights in western Pennsylvania. Now you get a handful of days in the 50s. There's a lot of gaslighting about this from some, blaming it all on UHI. But if you look at the actual data, you'll see the UHI has always existed. Its just now rural areas have lows comparably to the old UHI lows, and the UHI areas have seen similar increases. This is July 1988, widely regarded at the time as the hottest summer month since the Dust Bowl. Yes, most areas [besides the Laurel Mountain Ski Lodge] had maximum monthly temperatures in the upper 90s / low 100s but look at the low temperatures. Most areas outside of the UHI were in the 50s. Most locations outside the UHI had absolute minima in the 30s that month, including a low of freezing at Burgettstown on the 2nd. Now, in the month of July, we get gaslit about how it's 44F at a 4,000' elevation frost hollow at New Canaan, WV, and how that's oh so impressive. What a joke.

I was just noticed that when I was looking at some climate stats for the Ohio Valley region the other day. November is by far the month that's changed the least over the past 3 or 4 decades, which is odd. It might just be a mean reversion type thing, however. If you look at older historical data, November had previously been one of the fastest warming months of the 20th century.

Heaviest rains were from northeast Beaver into southern Butler County, per radar estimates, with as much as 2.5-4 inches over the past two days. Lightest rainfall was in southern Beaver down into Washington County, with less than 0.5 inches. That screw zone just missed the airport area.

Ended up with a bit over an inch of much needed rainfall IMBY yesterday. Monthly tally around 2.5". Also, decent odds at another 90F day today at PIT, but the recent rains may present a difficulty. Could struggle to exceed 89F with the wetter grounds - maybe our first day to wind up exactly at 90F in 2024?