Today in New York Weather History: July 29

 

 

In all of the years that weather records have been kept in Central Park (since 1869), July 29 has the distinction of being the date most likely to have measurable precipitation.  Through 2024, rain has been reported in 72 years, for an incidence rate of 46% (including 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024). 

After 7/29, March 12 and April 12 are the next dates most likely to have precipitation, each in 69 years. At the other end of the scale, Sept. 5 has had rain in only 30 years.  (On average, for any given date, precipitation has fallen in 50 years.) 

 

1892 (Friday)

Today was the end of a five-day heat wave that saw the last two days reach highs of 97°.  The average high/low during these five days was 95°/76°.  (The two days preceding the heat weave had highs of 89°). 

 

1914 (Wednesday)

Today's low of 59° is the only time a low was in the 50s on this date, the only date in July to have this distinction.  (For history buffs, today was the day after WWI began.)

 

1963 (Monday)

Today was the sixth day in a row with a high in the 90s, with all days featuring clear skies.  This was the third heat wave in the past five weeks.  And although there were fifteen days with highs in the 90s during this period (including a record 98° on the 27th, and eleven other days with highs of 94° or hotter), there was also a stretch of nearly two weeks, July 3-15, that was five degrees cooler than average (including a record low of 54° on 7/9).

 

 

1980 (Tuesday)

A monsoon-like rainstorm dumped 3.47" of rain during the latter part of the morning (9 AM-noon), with 1.38" pouring down between 10-11 AM.  This was the greatest daily rainfall in July since 1960 (later topped on July 24, 1997 when 3.75" fell).  Today's rain topped a record deluge earlier this year on April 9 by 0.05", and would be the  rainiest day of the year.

 

 

2010 (Thursday)

Today's low of 74° was the 25th low of 70° or warmer this month, the most of any July (breaking a tie with 1999 and 1908) and the most of any month on record (this record would be broken in July 2020).  These lows were all concentrated in the 26 days between 7/4 and today.  (A typical July averages 14 lows in the 70s/80s.)  Looking at high temperatures, not only did this July have sixteen days in the 90s (double the typical number), it also had five days with highs of 89° - and today was the last of those 89-degree days. 

 

2011 (Friday)

An evening thunderstorm dumped 0.32" of rain in a five-minute period between 8:21-8:26 PM.

 

 

2015 (Wednesday)

Since 7/19, four days briefly had the hottest temperature of the year: 93° on 7/19; 94° on 7/20; 95° on 7/28; and 96° today.  However, despite today's high, the hottest mean temperature of the summer was on 7/19, with a high/low of 94°/82°.  (Today's low was five degrees cooler.)  

 

2016 (Friday)

Slightly more than an inch of rain fell overnight thru 11 AM, bringing the month's rain total to 5.69", making this the rainiest month since December 2014.  It was also the wettest July in seven years.  (An additional 1.33" would fall on 7/30 and 7/31.)

 

2021 (Thursday)

Three days after July became the 27th month to have 10+ inches of rain, today it became the 15th to have more than 11 inches as just under half-an-inch fell during thunderstorms between 5-9 PM.  The City escaped turbulent conditions that affected parts of NJ and eastern PA, where a number of tornadoes touched down.  And the thunderstorms that moved through the City weakened as they moved over Manhattan, reducing the predicted amounts of rain.  This was the 18th day that measurable rain fell in July; only July 1871 had more days (20).  However, July 2021 had twice as much rain.

 

2023 (Saturday)

Central Park missed by one degree of having the year's first heat wave (the previous two days had a highs of 92°).  However, with a high of 89° today was the 15th day in the past four weeks to have a high of 88° or hotter.   (Five days were in the 90s, three had highs of 89° and seven reported a high of 88°).

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Comments

[Ken K. in NJ]

Re: Record low of 59 degrees. I have a few old Daily News Weather Almanacs from the early 60's. Even going back that far there were no dates where the current record low was 60 or above. Is there any way to determine when the last remaining record low of 60 or above was broken?

Thanks, as always.

--Ken

[Rob]

Hi Ken, if I'm following your question correctly, the last time a low of 60 was a record was on July 26, 1919 (the record had been set in 1911 and tied in 1913). It was bested the following year when the low fell to 55.

[Ken K. In NJ]

Yes, that was the question. Thanks!