Weather! Summer records officially broken; heat not gone yet

The cooler weather we saw over the weekend will continue Monday, as high temperatures will climb into the mid 80s today. Mostly sunny skies will persist, and lows tonight will drop to near 60.

September 6, 2010; 12:48 PM • by Weather Dan

Happy Labor Day, Richmond!

The National Weather Service has compiled the numbers for this summer (the months of June, July, and August), and here’s where we stand:

• This summer’s average temperature of 81.3 degrees makes it the hottest on record. The previous warmest was the summer of 1900, which had an average temperature of 79.6 degrees.
• So far this year, we have had 10 days with temperatures of 100 degrees or above, which breaks the old record of 9 set in 1954.
• Additionally, there have been 37 days with highs at 95 or above, breaking the old record of 35 set in 2002.
• For the year, we have seen a total of 67 days with highs of 90 or above, which is one short of the record of 70 set in 1977. This record is likely to fall later this week.
• Summer rainfall totaled 5.93”, which is well short of the average for this period (12.39”). This makes 2010 the third driest summer on record.

Richmond’s climate records date back to 1897.

The cooler weather we saw over the weekend will continue Monday, as high temperatures will climb into the mid 80s today. Mostly sunny skies will persist, and lows tonight will drop to near 60.

Unfortunately this won’t be posted prior to the start of today’s Flying Squirrels game, so I won’t be able to get in a forecast for today’s game, but it will be a beautiful afternoon to bid farewell to the Flying Squirrels this season. Here’s to another successful year in 2011!

Hokiecast (vs Boise State in Landover, MD, 8:00pm): It’s going to be a fantastic night for the Hokies to kick off their season. Plan on mostly clear skies tonight, with kickoff temps in the low 70s, dropping to near 70 by the end of the game.

We’re going to see another temporary warmup on Tuesday, as highs will run near 90 under another day of mostly sunny skies. Lows Tuesday night will fall into the mid 60s.

Another dry cold front approaches on Wednesday, making our return to the 90s very temporary. If we hit 90 both days, we’ll set the record for most 90 days in a calendar year. I’ll have another update on Wednesday.

September 6, 2010 12:48 PM 0