The summer of 2011 will certainly be remembered around the country...for many it was either too wet...way too dry, and for so much real estate across the plains and especially the southern plains...way to hot and dry. A raging drought continues down towards OK and TX as was talked about this week on the blog. Nationwide according to NOAA this summer this was the second hottest summer on record, but as I'm about to show you that number was heavily skewed because of the crazy heat across the southern plains states as opposed to the widespread coverage of heat across the country. The hottest summer per NOAA was the summer of 1936.

Here is a brief summary from the folks @ NOAA...

The blistering heat experienced by the nation during August, as well as the June through August months, marks the second warmest summer on record according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C. The persistent heat, combined with below-average precipitation across the southern U.S. during August and the three summer months, continued a record-breaking drought across the region. 

The average U.S. temperature in August was 75.7 degrees F, which is 3.0 degrees above the long-term (1901-2000) average, while the summertime temperature was 74.5 degrees F, which is 2.4 degrees above average. The warmest August on record for the contiguous United States was 75.8 degrees F in 1983, while its warmest summer on record at 74.6 degrees F occurred in 1936. Precipitation across the nation during August averaged 2.31 inches, 0.29 inches below the long-term average. The nationwide summer precipitation was 1.0 inch below average.

What am I talking about...well take a look at these two maps showing the summer temperatures, in relation to average...the first map show this summer...June through August (meteorological summer)...

Notice how significant the core of the heat is...from Wichita, KS through Houston, TX westwards to El Paso and Santa Fe...this is VERY impressive. Again from NOAA...


Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana had their warmest (June-August) summers on record. Average summer temperatures in Texas and Oklahoma, at 86.8 degrees F and 86.5 degrees F, respectively, exceeded the previous seasonal statewide average temperature record for any state during any season. The previous warmest summer statewide average temperature was in Oklahoma, during 1934 at 85.2 degrees F.

Certainly the month of August was VERY hot indeed for a large part of the southern plains and the southwest part of the country as well...but how does this compare to LAST summer...notice on this map, the same information is presented as the first map, except there are two differences...one the extreme core of heat that happened this summer down south, didn't come close to happening last summer...and 2) the extent of above average heat was somewhat greater last summer as opposed to this summer when you look at the nation as a whole...

In many circumstances, parts of the country that were somewhat above average this summer, were actually even hotter last summer. Look at those two maps closer and you'll see the differences.

Back home for KC our summer was more than 2.7 degrees above average. From the NWS in Pleasant Hill, MO...


The average temperature at the Kansas City International Airport for the summer 2011 season (June-August) was 79.1 degrees, which is 2.7 degrees above the 30-year average (new 1981-2010 averages). Based on the longer term historical 123 year record from various Kansas City observation points, summer 2011 ranked as the 26th warmest summer since 1888. The average high temperature for the season was 89.1 degrees, which is 2.7 degrees above normal, while the average low temperature was 69.1 degrees, which was 2.8 degrees above normal. The highest temperature of season was 107 degrees recorded on August 2nd, which was record for the date, and the lowest temperature of 56 degrees occurred on June 1st.
Now look at the same information from last summer's recap...again from the NWS in Pleasant Hill...

The average temperature at the Kansas City International Airport for the summer 2010 season (June-August) was 79.7 degrees, which is 3.5 degrees above the 30-year average. Based on the longer term historical 122 year record from various Kansas City observation points, summer 2010 ranked as the 15th warmest summer since 1888. The average high temperature for the season was 89.3 degrees, which is 2.7 degrees above normal, while the average low temperature was 70.1 degrees, which was 4.3 degrees above normal. The highest temperature of season was 103 degrees recorded on August 13th, and the lowest temperature of 56 degrees occurred on August 25th.

I underlined the most relevant information in my opinion...big difference between the 15th warmest summer, last year and the 26th warmest summer this year.


It also illustrates to me at least why the "2nd hottest summer" moniker is kind of tough to buy because of the heavily skewed numbers of the southern plains states, in a sense overwhelming the other data.

So lets play more with the summer months...now let's take a look at the summer numbers of the 1930s as an average through the entire decade...

Now, just for the heck of it...look at the same data from 2000-2011, granted we're adding in 2 very warm years (the last 2) compared to the 10 years that were calculated in the 1930s map...

Interesting to see the difference in the location of the heat from one decade to another. I think it's also important to point out that back in the 1930s there wasn't a lot of weather information coming from the western or southwestern part of the country as there is now...so I wonder if some of the data is skewed because of that as well.

As far as our weather goes...we're still looking at a HUGE cool down heading this way towards the middle of the week. This will be the real deal and will bring a killing freeze towards the Great Lakes area. I'm still not sure about the rainfall situation. There may be some but right now the GFS and the EURO which were bullish on the rainfall yesterday have both backed off, so I might be eliminating those rain chances later int he week, but regardless temperatures will be well below average WED-FRI it appears!
  
Joe