August 2017 Weather Recap - Coolest Since 2008
After experiencing the third and fourth hottest Augusts on record in 2016 and 2015, August 2017 cooled down and was 1.2 degrees below average, making it the coolest/most refreshing since 2008 (and its average high was the coolest since 2004, at 1.7 degrees below average). The month began on the hot side, with the only reading in the 90s, (a high of 92° on 8/1), but the rest of the month had twelve days with highs below 80° (the average number is seven). Despite the cooler than average temperatures there were no lows in the 50s (but 8/30 had a low of 60° - and 9/1 a low of 55°). Here are a few other interesting observations:
- Aug. 29, with a high/low of 68°/62°, was the first August day since 2010 to have a high cooler than 70°.
- This was the first month this year with no days of rainfall of an inch or more. (Through July there were twelve such rainy days.) As a result, not surprisingly, the 3.34" of rain that fell was an inch below average.
- This August joined August 2008 as the only two to have their one 90-degree day occur on 8/1.
- If 8/1 ends up being the last 90-degree day of the year, it will be the earliest date for this occurrence since 1986 (when it happened on 7/26).
- As for the summer, it came in just about at the average (-0.1 degree), with June 0.3 degrees above average, July at +0.6, and August -1.2. This was the fourth summer in a row with no lows in the 50s during July and August, a record streak (by contrast, July/August 1962-1965 averaged nine days in the 50s).
I don't know if this should warrant mention in the post, but the year's first, and probably only, 89° high occurred on 8/22. the latest date since Sept. 7, 1998 and by far the fewest such days since there was also one on Aug. 20, 2004. there are typically about four or five 89° highs in a year.
Posted by: William | 09/02/2017 at 02:06 PM
If 8/23 ends up being the last 70-degree night of the year, it will be the earliest date for this occurrence in any year in the 1970-2017 period (and the earliest in 5 decades when it happened on 8/20).
Posted by: William | 09/13/2017 at 06:36 PM
Yes, if it comes to pass this year's 8/23 will be among the ten earliest dates. However, the forecast for the next week calls for four nights with lows around 70, so I have a feeling this may not hold. However, 8/1 as the last 90-degree day of the year looks like it will hold.
Posted by: Rob | 09/14/2017 at 01:38 AM
well, I guess we were both wrong. your prediction of 2017 featuring one of the earliest last 90° days was way off as the year experienced the latest 90° day in many years and my prediction of 2017 featuring one of the earliest last low temperatures in the seventies was also way off as the year experienced the latest date ever for a low in the seventies.
Posted by: William | 10/04/2018 at 05:00 AM
Neither my comment nor yours were predictions, they were just statements of fact.
Posted by: Rob | 10/05/2018 at 12:43 PM