bluewave

That’s the acceleration of the water cycle at work. So we see more swings between drought and flooding. I agree that flooding is more damaging for regions like ours and the Midwest. But the West is a different story. There they get extreme droughts leading to wildfires that are frequently more dangerous than rainfall flooding is in our area and the Midwest. Plus the smoke from the fires creates air pollution for the entire CONUS. They can also get serious floods from time to time especially in the burn scar areas.

It’s also a challenge when you aren’t speaking with someone in person. Many not written cues can get lost on these forums. I am sure if we all met in person things would be different. Also goes to how many interactions these days occur online vs in person prior to social media and the internet. So we don’t have the benefit of nonverbal cues which are common in actual life. Even with all of issues that pop up from time to on these forums, the benefits outweigh any negatives. Weather models and past statistics for various stations used to be very limited before the age of the internet. I can remember the old Alden Difax machines that was the only way to get weather models. Plus there were no freely available databases containing past reanalysis products with 500 mb patterns and temperatures for any given month or period.

I don’t take any of this personally. It’s more comical than anything else. The squabbles in these threads are more like Napoleon Vs Uncle Rico than anything really serious.

UHI has been a factor in NYC since the 1890s. It gradually spread out into the other boroughs and nearby NJ from the 1930s to 1950s. So elevated minimums are nothing new in the heat island relative to the outlying areas. But all areas have seen increasing minimum and maximum temperatures. The area on the average has seen many more 90° days since 2010 than at any other era. This is the first time the state of NJ away from the sea breeze has seen 9 consecutive years with over 30 days reaching 90°. In past we would get fewer summers with so many 90° days. Back then cooler summers were in the mix with even the urban stations staying under 10 or 15 days every several years. We have to go back to 1996 for even most warm spots to have under 10 days reaching 90°. You are definitely in a much cooler spot than much of the forum.

There is a difference between lighthearted humor and passive-aggressive behavior. Most people want to read about the strongest El Niño on record rather than have to wade through these types of nonsense or banter posts. While I take it all in stride, it will cause others to just leave the forum.

Your impulse seems to be focusing more on the patterns that you would like to see rather than the patterns that we have been getting.

Newark is lagging behind in the 90° day count for NJ due to the more frequent breezes off bay this summer. The excessive tree growth in NYC has artificially put them behind places like Baiting Hollow on Eastern Long Island and POU to the north. In the old days before the ASOS move to under the trees in 1995, NYC would always have more 90° days than LGA and POU. Data for January 1, 2026 through August 13, 2026 Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. HARRISON COOP 34 ESTELL MANOR COOP 32 Atlantic City Area ThreadEx 28 ATLANTIC CITY INTL AP WBAN 28 NEW BRUNSWICK 3 SE COOP 28 New Brunswick Area ThreadEx 28 TETERBORO AIRPORT COOP 28 TETERBORO AIRPORT WBAN 28 Newark Area ThreadEx 26 NEWARK LIBERTY INTL AP WBAN 26 PHILADELPHIA/MT. HOLLY WFO COOP 25 MCGUIRE AFB WBAN 25 Data for January 1, 2026 through August 13, 2026 Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. LAGUARDIA AIRPORT WBAN 20 New York-LGA Area ThreadEx 20 PORT AUTH DOWNTN MANHATTAN WALL ST HEL ICAO 19 POUGHKEEPSIE/HUDSON VALLEY REGIONAL AIRPORT WBAN 16 BAITING HOLLOW COOP 16 Poughkeepsie Area ThreadEx 16 STEWART FIELD WBAN 14 SHRUB OAK COOP 13 NY CITY CENTRAL PARK WBAN 12 Data for January 1, 1991 through August 13, 1991 Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. GLENHAM COOP 32 NY CITY CENTRAL PARK WBAN 31 New York-Central Park Area ThreadEx 31 NY WESTERLEIGH STAT IS COOP 30 LAGUARDIA AIRPORT WBAN 25

The pattern is producing much stronger 500 mb ridges across the CONUS and the rest of the mid-latitudes this summer than we ever had for such a strong El Niño. This is why the CONUS just had the warmest July average temperature on record instead of the cooler very strong El Niño summer pattern. We’ll have to wait and see if this is an early signal El Niño 500 mb ridge axis will press further to the south and or east than usual during the winter.

We got that impressive 16 day run of cold from late January into early February. But since the rest of the U.S and the Northern Hemisphere was so warm last winter, the duration of the noteworthy cold was limited. Back in the late 1970s when the world was much colder, there was ample cold supply across the Northern Hemisphere for the entire winter to rank as cold as the 16 day period did last winter. So the Northeast had to wait 11 years to finally get a colder winter than the long term average.

While the major 100° heat has been mostly focused in late June and July in recent years, September and October have been warming at a faster rate than the summer. NY Coastal Climate Division 1981-2025 Jun….+0.4 per decade Jul….+0.8 per decade Aug…+0.6 per decade Sep….+1.0 per decade Oct…..+1.0 per decade

Breaking the July 1936 record was mostly a function of the much warmer minimum temperatures this year. This July was the 6th warmest for maximum temperatures behind 1936. But it was the warmest July for minimum temperatures. So the average of the two put this year in 1st place. Much higher dewpoints these days due to warmer global temperatures holding more moisture. So the low temperatures can’t drop as much as they used to. Plus the record corn production adds to the dewpoints and warmer minimums in the areas which experienced the worst of the Dust Bowl in the Plains. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/07/27/one-of-the-muggiest-days-on-record-for-the-twin-cities The highest dew point ever observed in the Twin Cities remains 82 degrees, recorded on July 19, 2011. That event still stands as the local benchmark for tropical humidity. Across Minnesota, the state record is even more astonishing. In Moorhead, the dew point climbed to an incredible 88 degrees during the 2011 heat wave. That combination of extreme heat and moisture pushed the heat index above 130 degrees. Only a handful of years have ever produced 80-degree dew points in the Twin Cities: 1966 1983 1995 1999 2002 2005 2011 2026 With six more hours added to the record books today, 2026 has secured its place alongside some of Minnesota's most memorable humidity events. While air temperatures often get the headlines, dew point is what determines just how oppressive the air feels — and an 80-degree dew point is about as uncomfortable as it gets in the Upper Midwest.

Continued improvement for our area with drought expansion for the rest of the CONUS.

Yeah, October has been a pretty good indication of the Aleutian low strength for the winter since 1997 during super El Niño. Notice how large an area in the NEPAC during October 1997 was occupied by the Aleutian low. It actually had multiple centers. One area NW of Hawaii and the other over the EPO and PNA regions. The Southeast El Niño trough was already beginning to become established also. That winter went on to have one of the strongest and largest Aleutian low areas of all-time. In October 2015 and 2023 the Aleutian low was confined to a much smaller space in the NEPAC. Both of theses winters had smaller and more displaced Aleutian low locations than 1997-1998. This matches the 500 mb ridges becoming stronger and more expansive since 2015-2016 and the troughs becoming weaker relative to earlier years.

LGA came the closest at 99°. We could already begin to see the influence of the trees in Central Park after the new ASOS was installed in the shade in 1995. During the July 1991 heatwave Riverhead also made it to 100°. But the old Central Park station not under trees made it to 102°. Data for July 15, 1997 through July 15, 1997 Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. NJ NEWARK LIBERTY INTL AP WBAN 101 NJ TETERBORO AIRPORT WBAN 101 NY RIVERHEAD RESEARCH FARM COOP 100 NY LAGUARDIA AIRPORT WBAN 99 NJ HARRISON COOP 99 NY MINEOLA 1 NE COOP 99 NY MINEOLA COOP 98 NY SETAUKET STRONG COOP 98 NJ CANOE BROOK COOP 97 NY NY CITY CENTRAL PARK WBAN 97 CT DANBURY COOP 97 NY WESTCHESTER CO AP WBAN 97 CT NORWICH PUBLIC UTILITY PLANT COOP 97 NJ CRANFORD COOP 96 CT STAMFORD 5 N COOP 96 NY WEST NYACK COOP 96 NY UPTON COOP - NWSFO NEW YORK COOP 96 NY BRIDGEHAMPTON COOP 96 CT MOUNT CARMEL COOP 96 NY ISLIP-LI MACARTHUR AP WBAN 96 NJ LITTLE FALLS COOP 95 CT IGOR I SIKORSKY MEMORIAL AIRPORT WBAN 95 NY SEA CLIFF COOP 95 NY PORT JERVIS COOP 94 NY NEW YORK AVE V BROOKLYN COOP 94 NY JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WBAN 94 Data for July 21, 1991 through July 21, 1991 Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending. CT DANBURY COOP 105 NJ NEWARK LIBERTY INTL AP WBAN 102 NY NY CITY CENTRAL PARK WBAN 102 CT MIDDLETOWN 4 W COOP 102 NY BRIDGEHAMPTON COOP 102 CT MOUNT CARMEL COOP 101 NY ISLIP-LI MACARTHUR AP WBAN 101 CT GROTON COOP 101 CT NORWICH PUBLIC UTILITY PLANT COOP 101 NJ CANOE BROOK COOP 100 NY NY WESTERLEIGH STAT IS COOP 100 NY LAGUARDIA AIRPORT WBAN 100 NY MINEOLA COOP 100 CT NEW HAVEN COOP 100 NY RIVERHEAD RESEARCH FARM COOP 100

The 500 mb pattern during June and July across the Northern Hemisphere was the opposite of past developing super El Niño events. Had more in common with +SOI/ -PDO /La Niña June and July periods. Seasonsal forecast models from before the summer started missed this pattern.