Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Triple Digit Decline?

It has been quite a run of triple digit temperatures in Salt Lake City.  Here's a summary thus far:

June 27: 101
June 28: 105 (record for June)
June 29: 105 (ditto) 
June 30: 103 (record for day, longest consecutive string of triple digit days in June, June finishes with no measurable precipitation))
July 1: 104 (record for day)
July 2: 102

This streak is, however, in jeopardy.  A short-wave trough is expected to sag into the Pacific Northwest by tomorrow and the ridge weakens just enough to cool us off a touch and increase the chance of thunderstorm.


I think we'll eke out one more triple-digit day today, but the end of the streak could come tomorrow.  The high 90s never looked so good.

8 comments:

  1. Do you happen to know what the longest streak of 100+ daily high temperatures at the airport is? I'm wondering where this heat wave fits in historically.

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  2. Adam:

    This suggests it is 10: http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/07/01/n-utah-heat-wave-setting-records

    My guess is that we won't make it.

    Jim

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  3. Number of Consecutive Days Max Temperature >= 100
    for SALT LAKE CITY INTL AP, UT

    Rank Run Length Ending Date
    1 10 2003-07-24
    2 9 1960-07-22
    3 8 1931-07-27
    4 6 2013-07-02
    - 6 1994-07-30
    - 6 1976-07-11
    - 6 1960-07-29
    8 5 2006-07-18
    - 5 2002-07-15
    - 5 2001-07-04

    Last value also occurred in one or more previous years.
    Period of record: 1928-05-01 to 2013-07-02

    Source: http://xmacis.rcc-acis.org/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Trevor for passing this along. A few thoughts.

      1. It looks like standing alone in #4 is pretty likely. I'm not sure we will get beyond that.

      2. 100 is of course an arbitrary threshold, but it does have a nice psych factor for those of us who still use US units. Those not metrically challenged can use 40C, but that's a big hurdle to overcome (=104F).

      3. In my view, although this event probably won't be the longest running, it is a historic event for two reasons. First, it was early in the year. This was the earliest event in the top 10 listed above. Second, it set the new all-time temperature record for June and then matched it the next day.

      4. This was a bad heat wave. Eventually, they are going to get worse. The climate of St. George is coming to Salt Lake by the end of the 21st century.

      Jim

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  4. Check this out:

    Maximum 4-Day Mean Max Temperature
    for SALT LAKE CITY INTL AP, UT

    Rank Value Ending Date Missing Days
    1 104.3 2013-07-01 0
    - 104.3 1931-07-24 0
    3 104.0 1994-07-29 0
    - 104.0 1994-07-28 0
    - 104.0 1960-07-21 0
    - 104.0 1960-07-20 0
    7 103.5 2013-07-02 0
    - 103.5 2013-06-30 0
    - 103.5 2002-07-14 0
    - 103.5 1960-07-22 0
    Last value also occurred in one or more previous years.
    Period of record: 1928-05-01 to 2013-07-02

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And not just the highs have been hot...

      Maximum 4-Day Mean Avg Temperature
      for SALT LAKE CITY INTL AP, UT

      Rank Value Ending Date Missing Days
      1 89.0 2003-07-18 0
      2 88.8 2013-07-02 0
      - 88.8 2013-07-01 0
      4 88.6 2003-07-19 0
      5 88.5 2013-07-03 1
      Period of record: 1928-05-01 to 2013-07-02

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    2. Does this mean the past 4 days were the hottest in SLC history?

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    3. Yeah, tied for the hottest 4 days ever by just max temp, and the second hottest 4 days ever by mean daily temp.

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