July 2024 Weather Recap: Hot First Half, Seasonable Second Half
During the first half of July 2024 it appeared the month might become one of the three hottest Julys on record. Between July 1-17 the average temperature was four degrees above average, with nine days reporting highs in the 90s and seven days with lows of 75° or warmer. Then the weather pattern shifted and the last two weeks of the month cooled down to seasonable readings, and the month entered the record books tied for 11th hottest with July 1949 (2.1 degrees warmer than average).
This July was just the fourth month on record to have no high temperatures cooler than 80° (the average number is six). And its 24 days with lows of 70° or warmer was the third most of any July (tied with nine other Julys, including 2023 and 2022).
The hottest periods of July were July 4-11 (with every day having a high of 89° or hotter) and July 14-17 (every day in the 90s); both periods had the same average high/low of 91°/75°, six degrees above average. (The month’s other 19 days had an average high/low of 84°/70°.) The hottest reading of the month was 95° on 7/8, the warmest low was 79° on 7/7.
The last of the month's nine days in the 90s was on 7/17. At that point, Central Park had experienced 15 days of 90+ for the year (all of the them between 6/20 and 7/17), which was the 14th most on record by that date (going back to 1869).
Going into the evening of 7/31, it appeared the month would be the 10th hottest July on record. However, a brief shower at 9:30 cooled the temperature from 88° to 73°, which was five degrees below the morning’s low of 78°. This change was enough to knock it out of 10th place (behind July 1966).
July's coolest temperature was 64°, which was reported on 7/1. Only six Julys have had a milder reading for their coolest temperature (eight others also had 64° as their coolest reading).
As for rainfall, all but 0.39” of the month’s 4.20” fell during the week of 7/11-17. July’s total rainfall was slightly below average (by 0.40”) and was the driest July since 2017 (which had 4.19”). By contrast, the Julys between 2018-2023 averaged 6.60” of rain. Most of this July’s rain came from two storm systems that were five days apart as 2.06” fell on 7/13 and 1.46” fell on 7/17.
Although July's rank for average temperature was 11th, for average low (72.1°) it ranked sixth, but for average high (87.2°) it ranked 17th.
Finally, while Central Park and LaGuardia Airport both had nine days with highs of 90+, Newark had 14, but JFK had just one (on the last day of the month). Looking at highs of 88+, the four sites reported 20, 16, 12, and one, respectively. JFK isn't usually so different from the other stations, but this July regularly had winds from out of the south, off the ocean, which had a moderating effect on the daytime temperatures at JFK.
Here are recaps of previous Julys:
Comments