Looking Back at New York Weather: July 3
1898 (Sunday)
Today's high reached 100°, the first reading in the triple digits in 17 years. The wait for the next reading in the 100s wouldn't be nearly as long (July 1, 1901).
1903 (Friday)
This was the 20th day of the past 27 (since 6/7) to report measurable rain, totaling 10.37".
1930 (Thursday)
In perhaps the most torrential downpour in Central Park history, an evening thunderstorm dumped 2.11" of rain in fifteen minutes (and 2.75" in half an hour - a typical year before 1930 averaged four months with less than this 30-minute amount). In the course of the storm the temperature dropped from the upper 70s to the low 60s.
1933 (Monday)
Morning showers, winds from the northeast, and overcast skies kept the temperature from getting no higher than 65°. This was just two days after a high of 94°.
1966 (Sunday)
Today's high of 103°, a record for the date, was New York's hottest reading since Aug. 26, 1948, which also had a high of 103°. Fortunately, the air was dry, with afternoon humidity in the 25-30% range.
1967 (Monday)
Flooding rains of nearly two inches poured down in less than two hours, between 4:00 and 5:30 AM. This was very similar to June 18 when 1.83" of rain fell from 9-11 PM.
1978 (Monday)
Rain began shortly before 11 AM and continued into early afternoon of July 4. It came down heaviest between 10 PM-3 AM when 1.72" fell. In total, 2.91" was measured. The rain kept the temperature from getting no higher than 70°.
1979 (Tuesday)
With a high of 87°/67°, today was the only day between June 19 and July 11 (23 days) to have an above-average mean temperature. Temperatures during this period were five degrees below average.
1985 (Wednesday)
Today was the ninth consecutive day with cooler than average temperatures. During this stretch temperatures were eight degrees below normal (high/low of 73°/60°).
2002 (Wednesday)
Today's high was a steamy 95°, after a very uncomfortable morning low of just 82° - the earliest date for an 80-degree low temperature since the summer of 1952, when it occurred on June 26.
2011 (Sunday)
0.75" of rain fell between 8-10 AM and clouds persisted for the rest of the day. Today's bleak sky conditions held the high temperature to just 74° - the only day this month not to reach 80° or higher. Since 1970, only two other Julys had all but one day in the 80s - 1994 and 1983. A typical July has a half dozen of these days.
2013 (Wednesday)
In less than two months, from May 8 thru today, 19.55" of rain fell in Central Park - more than double the typical amount during these days. Today's rainfall amounted to 0.53".
2014 (Thursday)
Like yesterday, after a very warm and humid day severe thunderstorms moved through in the evening. However, unlike yesterday, today's storms didn't feature as much vivid lightning, but produced nearly twice as much rain (1.78") in half the time (7:00-9:00).
2016 (Sunday)
This was the third day in a row with highs in the pleasant 70s, the first time since 1960 that the first three days of July had highs cooler than 80°. (The average high for July 1-3 is 83°.)
2018 (Tuesday)
This was the fourth day in a row with a high in the 90s, and although the high of 92° was the lowest of the four days, today's heat index was the highest of them all - 106°, which occurred early in the afternoon (the dew point peaked at 77°). This was three degrees hotter than the heat index two days earlier and four degrees hotter than yesterday's.
2021 (Saturday)
Three days after June had its hottest reading since 1994 (98°), today's low of 59° was the first in the 50s in July since 2009. And under overcast skies the temperature rose only to 66°, which was three degrees cooler than the average low for the date. This was the first high in the 60s in July since 2013, and the coolest July high since 2005. Furthermore, today's mean temperature of 62.5° was the coolest in July since July 12, 1990, which had the same mean (high/low of 67°/58).
Additionally, today was the fourth day in a row with measurable rain. Today's 0.34", which fell mostly during heavy showers shortly after daybreak, brought the 4-day total to 2.56", which was nearly as much as what fell during the entire month of June (2.62").
2022 (Sunday)
For the third day in a row the low temperature was 73°. The highs on these three days, however, were all different: 91°-87°-88° (today).
Hi Rob, enjoying your blog as always.
The torrential downpour that occurred on July 3, 1930 sounded very unusual, and I found a report of it in the next day's NY Times. I was able to download a pdf of the article, which I've attached. I thought you might find it interesting.
file:///C:/Users/Rob/Downloads/NYT%20Downpour%20of%207-3-1930.pdf
Thanks again for all your great work documenting NY City's weather.
Ken
Posted by: Ken Kaiser | 07/08/2017 at 05:06 PM
if I may, I'd like to provide an added insight to the 1966 highlight. on this date back then, JFK and LaGuardia airports reached 104° and 107° respectively, the hottest reading ever reported in those locations.
Posted by: William | 06/18/2018 at 01:57 PM
Any info on July 3rd, 1992? I seem to remember it rained at night.
Posted by: Eric | 05/03/2020 at 03:26 PM
Rain moved in late in the afternoon and by midnight 0.47" had fallen. The rain continued until daybreak on the 4th of July, adding 0.33".
Posted by: Rob | 05/04/2020 at 12:22 AM
Interesting about the June/July 1979 Cool spell. My wife and I (well, she was my girlfriend at the time) took a weeklong trip thru the Adirondacks and Quebec in early July. We had planned to camp at least a couple of the nights, but it was way too cold for that. Most nights were in the low 30's, highlighted by snow flurries on the morning of July 4 in Malone NY. I have a picture of the two of us bundled up in 30 degree weather on top of Mt. Whitney, we were totally unprepared for the cold. I have on a wool sport jacket, which I had with me only because we ate at a fairly nice restaurant with a dress code in Quebec City.
Posted by: Ken K. in NJ | 07/03/2020 at 02:56 PM
today in 2022, the humidity in Newark was 18% during the 3 p.m. hour and the 4 p.m. hour. when was the last time Newark’s humidity was this low in meteorological summer?
Posted by: William | 07/03/2022 at 08:25 PM
As the name of the blog suggests, NYC is the focus of the blog, not Newark, so I've done no analysis of humidity levels in Newark.
Posted by: Rob | 07/04/2022 at 04:21 PM