TheClimateChanger

A code *maroon* air quality alert for northern Ohio. Geez, I didn’t even know it had that many colors. OHZ010>014-020>022-089-170400- Lorain-Cuyahoga-Lake-Geauga-Ashtabula Inland-Medina-Summit-Portage-Ashtabula Lakeshore- Including the cities of Lorain, Elyria, North Ridgeville, Avon Lake, Cleveland, Mentor, Willoughby, Eastlake, Painesville, Willowick, Wickliffe, Chardon, South Russell, Bainbridge, Chesterland, Middlefield, Burton, Jefferson, Orwell, Andover, Roaming Shores, Brunswick, Medina, Wadsworth, Akron, Kent, Aurora, Streetsboro, Ravenna, Ashtabula, Conneaut, and Geneva 530 PM EDT Wed Jul 15 2026 ...AIR QUALITY ADVISORY IN EFFECT FOR THURSDAY JULY 16... An Air Quality Advisory for ground level fine particles has been issued by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency for Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit Counties. The advisory is from midnight tonight to midnight Thursday night. A code MAROON air quality alert means that air pollution concentrations within the local region are extremely hazardous for the general population. Efforts to minimize effects, even indoors, may be difficult to impossible. Follow local emergency instructions via television or radio. To help our region reduce air pollution: * Drive less: bike, walk, use transit, work from home, combine trips * Visit gohiocommute.com/noaca - Find a smarter way to travel! * Don`t idle - Turn off your engine * Refill your tank after sunset * Wait to mow the lawn && The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), in partnership with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), the Cleveland Division of Air Quality, the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District, the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, the Lake County General Health District, and Ohio University, has forecasted this Advisory based on predicted weather patterns. Learn more at www.noaca.org. $$

Impressive heat. Highest in the month of July since 2012 at many sites, including Milwaukee and Flint. We will see if O'Hare can tick up to 97F and that would also be the case there. We have seen a couple of warmer episodes in August (perhaps June?), but this will be the hottest July temperatures in 14 years at a number of sites.

MKE was 97F at the last METAR observation. Up to 98F/99F now, per 5 minute observations. Last ob was 99F. Due to rounding probably only 98F, but definitely above 97F.

Looks legit by the way, maybe a tad warm. Checked PWS stations around there and most were in the 100-103F range, even right to the shore.

Wow! 104F now. Really mixing well there - downsloping effects? Dews are cratering with gusty west winds.

Up to 102F at Oscoda, Michigan. Toronto, Ont. was up to 97F at the top of the hour.

Looks like a smokemaggeddon scenario on Wednesday if the HRRR is right?

Wow, this looks quite bad.

Will have to keep a close eye on the path of this wildfire smoke. RAP suggesting some surface smoke on Wednesday, densest near the fires, but extending across the Great Lakes.

Looks like maybe more surface smoke on Wednesday if the RAP is correct. Will have to watch out for this, as this could hold back high temperatures some.

Looks like most of it stays aloft tomorrow.

Going to be getting real smoky soon.

This is absolutely relevant to the ENSO discussion. U.S. weather is influenced by El Niño, and this entire thread is speculating about what it may mean for winter. But it is summertime right now, Niño 3.4 anomalies are already off the chart, and SST anomalies are nearing strong El Niño territory. The possible effects do not wait for December to begin.

Incidentally, contemporary observers in 1936 did not simply pretend weather history began with the official national series. So I highly doubt anyone in 1936 was objecting that it was not really the hottest because the national record did not reach back to 1776. The chief of the Iowa Weather and Crop Bureau described July 1936 as the hottest in at least 117 years, drawing on regional observations extending back to 1819. The official CONUS record begins in 1895 because that is when coverage becomes adequate for a consistent national average — not because no weather observations existed earlier. We have scattered instrumental records from the eighteenth century and a rapidly expanding national network by the mid-nineteenth century. No, we cannot calculate an apples-to-apples CONUS average for 1776. But given the magnitude and enormous geographic footprint of July 1936, it is exceedingly difficult to believe that a still-hotter national July occurred in the preceding century without leaving a conspicuous instrumental and historical trail. “Hottest on record” is entirely correct — and 1936 was very likely exceptional over a considerably longer period.