Friday, August 3, 2012

Over 100 High Temperature Records Per Day in July Outnumber Cold Records by 17 to 1


The 3,135 new daily high temperature records in July 2012, over 100 per day, exceeded cold records by a factor of 16.6 to 1. The heat record count was the highest since the phenomenal 6,182 in March. For the summer to date (June-July), the ratio is now 7.9 to 1. For 2012 overall, the ratio of 11.8 to 1 is over 4 times the value for 2011.

The heat record count is a little less than half of the 6,788 records set in the record hottest month of July 1936, which is actually quite impressive given the additional 76 years of data since then. Furthermore, this July's ratio is 23% higher than the 13.5 in 1936.

Image (click to enlarge):
- Monthly ratio of daily high temperature to low temperature records set in the U.S. for July 2011 through July 2012, seasonal ratio for summer and fall 2011, winter, spring and summer 2012 to date, and annual ratio for 2012 and 2011.
CapitalClimate chart from NOAA/NCDC data, background image © Kevin Ambrose (www.weatherbook.com). Includes historical daily observations archived in NCDC's Cooperative Summary of the Day data set and preliminary reports from Cooperative Observers and First Order National Weather Service stations. All stations have a Period of Record of at least 30 years.

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