Some interesting weather stats to kick off your Tuesday AM...as we know it's been a pretty rough summer here...in the world of weather we consider the seasons a little differently. For us, to keep stats and record keeping easier, Summer is from June 1st to August 30th. I saw this information in an article from USA Today, talking about the summer heat...their referencing the Weather Channel information here...take a look at the percentage of days since May 20th that cities have had ABOVE average temperatures...pretty impressive runs so far...with the southern plains still not expecting much of a significant cool down for a long time...

I noticed KC wasn't on that list...so for us the magic number was 70%...or just below the cities they have listed there...

IF you start the list through on June 1st our percentage of above average days jumps up to a respectable 74%.

There was also this that struck me, concerning the devastating heat that has gripped Oklahoma for the last several months...in the month of July...I thought this was very impressive...

According to data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average temperature 
during July came in at 89.1 degrees, more than 7 degrees above normal. High 
temperatures alone were nearly 9 degrees above normal at 102.9 degrees. The 
National Climatic Data Center's statewide average for July stands at 88.9 
degrees with data still being collected. Both values shattered the country’s 
previous record of 88.1 degrees held by another legendary hot month in 
Oklahoma, July 1954. 

The link to the whole article is here...fascinating to say the least, especially when you think about the dust bowl days. Texas is also seeing their hottest June/July combo since records have been kept going back to the 1890s...


For us however for the next 5-7 days+ a few...it may not be that bad as temperatures may, more often than not, be below average for awhile...the GFS is certainly optimistic about this potential...and it has decent to good backing from all the other models I looked at today.

Click on that image to make it larger...


Also something interesting to me is looking up towards the polar areas...look at all that warmth! Those are pretty significant anomalies for that area, especially now that the daylight is starting to shorten up rather quickly up there...

OK...the last look of July courtesy of the folks @ NOAA...their headline is that July was the 4th warmest in recorded history...here is the article...



Persistent, scorching heat in the central and eastern regions of the United States shattered long-standing daily and monthly temperature records last month, making it the fourth warmest July on record nationally, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. The heat exacerbated drought conditions, resulting in the largest “exceptional” drought footprint in the 12-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor. “Exceptional” is the most severe category of drought on the drought monitor scale. Drought conditions at several locations in the South region are not as long lived, but are as dry, or drier, than the historic droughts of the 1930s and 1950s.
The average U.S. temperature in July was 77.0 degrees F, which is 2.7 degrees F above the long-term (1901-2000) average. Precipitation, averaged across the nation, was 2.46 inches. This was 0.32 inch below the long-term average, with large variability between regions. This monthly analysis, based on records dating back to 1895, is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides.

July 2011 temperature "divisional rank" maps.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

U.S. climate highlights – July

• Oklahoma and Texas had their warmest months ever on record, with average temperatures of 88.9 degrees F and 87.1 degrees F, respectively. Oklahoma's statewide average temperature was the warmest monthly statewide average temperature on record for any state during any month.
  
• 41 of the lower 48 states had above-normal, much-above-normal, or a record warmest July. Only seven of the lower 48 states – all west of the Rockies – experienced a July average temperature near or below the 20th century average.
  
• The South climate region -- Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas -- had its warmest single calendar month for any climate region on record. The average temperature of 86.1 degrees F, bested the previous all-time record of 85.9 set in July 1980 in the South climate region.
  
• Dallas exceeded 100 degrees F on 30 of the 31 days in July. In Oklahoma City, July was the warmest single calendar month, with an average temperature of 89.2, beating the previous record of 88.7 degrees F set in August 1936. Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport had its warmest single calendar month on record, with an average temperature of 84.5 degrees F, breaking the previous record of 83.1 degrees F set in July 2010 and July 1993.
  
• The July heat wave was characterized by unusually warm minimum temperatures, during nights and early mornings. This is typical of U.S. heat waves in the last decade, and consistent with increasing warm summer nighttime extremes observed across much of the country since the late 20th century.
  
• Wetter-than-normal conditions occurred along parts of the Gulf Coast, all of the Pacific Coast, and much of the upper Midwest. California tied for its fifth wettest July. Other states that were abnormally wet in July included: Utah (6th wettest), Wyoming (9th), and South Dakota (10th).  At the same time, July offered no relief to the parched soils of Texas and Oklahoma where it was the second (tied) and ninth driest July on record, respectively.
  
• Exceptional drought, as defined by the U.S. Drought Monitor, covers more than 75 percent of Texas (201,436 sq mi). Drought conditions are so harsh in some locations that it would take as much as 20 inches of precipitation in one month to end the drought. In Oklahoma, 100 percent of the state is suffering from moderate-exceptional drought compared to the beginning of the water year (9/28/2010), when drought conditions covered only four percent of the state.
  

July 2011 precipitation "divisional rank" map.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

Quarterly and year-to-date U.S. climate highlights

• During the May-July period, a persistent trough/ridge weather pattern set up across the U.S., bringing above normal temperatures to the eastern half of the country and below normal temperatures to the western third. This pattern resulted in Washington State having its coolest May-July period on record, and the Northwest climate region tied with its second coolest. The West climate region had its 10th coolest May-July period.
  
• Oklahoma had its warmest May-July period, while 18 other states had a top 10 warmest three months. The South climate region had its second warmest May-July and the Northeast and Southeast both had a top 10 warmest such period. 
  
• During the same period, a steady flow of moisture from the West coast to the upper Midwest resulted in the fifth wettest May-July for the Northern High Plains area. Meanwhile, it was the second and seventh driest such period for the South and Southeast, respectively.
  
• The six-month (February-July) and the year-to-date (January-July) periods were record dry for Texas, New Mexico and the South climate region. Conversely, across the Northern half of the country, most states experienced much above normal precipitation. Three states had record precipitation amounts for the February-July period: Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan.
  
• Flooding along the Missouri River Basin is associated with a record amount of precipitation during August 2010-July 2011 in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. The previous records for statewide precipitation during this period were from 1901 and 1907 in North Dakota and Montana, respectively.

NCDC’s monthly reports are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision. Additional quality control is applied to the data when late reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as new scientific methods improve NCDC’s processing algorithms.

OK that's it for today...have a great Tuesday and enjoy the cooler weather!

joe