Low Temperatures of 70 Degrees or Warmer: An Analysis

 

A typical year in New York sees 37 days with lows in the 70s or 80s, with the first coming around June 4 and the last on Sept. 11.  (This is nine days longer than the "season" for 90-degree high temperatures.)  In the period 1970-2020, the number of these days has ranged from just 14 in 1992 to 60 in 2005  (2010, the year with the hottest summer, had 55.)  The longest streak of lows of 70°+ is 22 days and it occurred twice, in 1980 and 2010.  There was also a 21-day streak in 1988.  The longest streak of days with lows of 75°+ (which we get eight of each year) occurred in the summer of 2013 when there were eight consecutive days in mid-July. 

 

MOST & LEAST 70-DEGREE LOWS
(Since 1970)
MOST	Days	First	Last
2005	60	June 8	Oct 7
2015	56	May 1	Sept 29
2010	55	June 4	Sept 28
2018	54	May 3	Oct 10
1980	54	June 25	Sept 22
Average	37	June 4	Sept 11
LEAST	Days	First	Last
1992	14	June 8	Sept 9
2009	18	July 16	Aug 26
2000	23	May 8	Sept 12
1975	23	June 19	Aug 26
1976	24	April 18	Aug 28

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Summer of 2014 Weather Recap - Not As Cool As it Seemed

 

Ask most anyone about the summer of 2014's weather and they'll probably remark how comfortable it was, even cool.  This is most likely because there were so few 90-degree days, just six (normal is sixteen for June-July-August).  However, the average temperature for meteorological summer (June 1 - Aug. 31) was 0.1 degree above average.  (June was +1.0, July -0.4 and August -0.7).  Compared to the previous four summers, however, this summer felt cool because those summers were on the torrid side (especially 2010, which was the hottest summer on record).  And although the summer of 2014 was the coolest in five years, 2009 was much cooler, 2.3 degrees below average. 

 

Average Summertime Temperatures
(Meteorological Summer)
	Mean Temp	Departure
2014	74.4	+0.1
2013	75.7	+1.4
2012	75.6	+1.3
2011	76.0	+1.7
2010	77.8	+3.5
2009	72.0	-2.3

 

What distinguished this summer from those of the past five was that none of the three months this year had a wide variation from the average, while the others had at least one month that varied significantly from the average.

 

Monthly Departures From Normal
	June	July	Aug
2014	+1.0	-0.4	-0.7
2013	+1.2	+3.3	-0.6
2012	-0.4	+2.3	+1.5
2011	+1.1	+3.8	+0.2
2010	+3.5	+4.9	+2.4
2009	-3.7	-3.8	+0.6

 

And while there were no official heat waves (i.e., three days in a row with highs in the 90s), there were four three-day periods with highs of 87+, two each in July and August (and there were back-to-back 89-degree days in mid-June).  Interestingly, while there were six days with highs in the 90s, the warmest daily mean temperature wasn't one of those days - it occurred on June 18, when the high/low was 89°/76°.

 

HOTTEST DAYS - SUMMER 2014
(Ranked by Daily Mean Temp)
	High	Low	Mean
June 18	89	76	82.5
Aug 31	90	73	81.5
July 2	91	72	81.5
July 8	91	71	81.0
July 7	90	72	81.0
Aug 5	90	71	80.5
July 1	89	72	80.5
Aug 27	90	70	80.0
July 23	88	72	80.0
June 17	89	71	80.0

 

Finally, there were 29 days with lows in the 70s (an average summer has 33), with all but two of them between 70°-72°.  The outliers were June 18, when the low was 76°, and the last day of August, which had a low of 73°.