TheClimateChanger

Well, that was the official explanation, but it would seem even some Weather Bureau meteorologists were a little skeptical of that explanation: "The most noteworthy feature was the unusual darkness from 2 to 4 p.m. on the 24th, allegedly caused by a heavy smoke layer brought by north-west winds from Canadian forest fires..."

Interesting to see 1950 as the record low at Newark. Today is the 75th anniversary of Black Sunday. Very cold and dark day, with high temperatures in the 40s around the Great Lakes. Black Sunday: Darkness falls in the PA Wilds - Pennsylvania Wilds The Day the Sun Disappeared—September 24, 1950 - Burchfield Penney Art Center

Incredible changes are afoot. At Akron-Canton Regional Airport in Ohio, just 0.29" of rain was observed between August 1 and September 21. Yesterday, more than 5x that amount fell - and all on or after 3 pm. The final daily tally was 1.46 inches of rain for the 22nd.

There is over two months of data missing from that summer (65 days), so that amount shown is based on less than a month.

Yes, looks like our spell of nearly ideal weather is coming to an end.

I don't think the Little Ice Age would be much of a factor. Perhaps @donsutherland1 could weigh in? But looking at proxy-based global temperature reconstructions, it would appear globally temperatures varied no more than about .5C over the preceding 2,000 years until the mid 19th century. And that temperatures by about the 1930s were decidedly warmer than at any time in the preceding 2,000 years. People often bandy around terms they don't understand. Even during the Holocene Thermal Optimum, mid-latitude winters were likely harsher than during the 19th century, as the earth would have been tilted at a greater angle away from the sun during wintertime. The summer warming is just a considerably larger impact, because that's when almost all of the solar radiation falls in the high latitude.

They are forecasting A LOT of drought though:

A little bit of D3 - Extreme Drought introduced to a small part of southwest Pennsylvania:

Bradford pear?

Here is the Iowa snowstorm. Must have been a wicked bomb cyclone. Look at the track of that low pressure center. Chicago --> La Crosse, Wisconsin, before drifting southwest into Iowa.

That must have been quite the bomb cyclone. Wicked loop there with the low pressure center passing from Chicago to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and then drifting southwest into Iowa.

It was a LOT colder back then though, so Africa was probably pretty temperate, especially at elevation. Well, for most of that time... per AI, it sounds like homo sapiens first evolved around 300,000 years ago, so they would have been around for a couple of glacial cycles and lived through the somewhat warmer Eemian interglacial. Of course, more importantly, the population was tiny compared to today.

Benign weather persists across the region. With another dry day in the offing, Akron will have seen just 0.29" of rain over the past 47 days (August 1 to September 16). August was the driest month on record at Akron with just 0.19" of rainfall. Note - not just the driest August, but driest of any month. Through today, only another 0.10" of rain has been measured in the month of September. This is the driest 47 day stretch on record. The prior record was 0.34" ending on November 17, 1924, but persisting for an additional 4 days [reaching a total of 51 days with just 0.34"]. In addition, a 47-day period ending on July 9, 1988, measured just 0.37" of rain. While a 47-day period ending on October 29, 1963, measured just 0.43" with that tally holding for an additional day. The next chance for rain occurs on Sunday, suggesting the current tally should hold through at least 51 days.

Wow, where are you heading? Iceland?

That information is available: Drought Classification | U.S. Drought Monitor D0 corresponds to indices in the 20th to 30th percentile, meaning any given week, on average, about 3 in 10 years should be at least "abnormally dry." Over the course of the year (52 weeks), the recurrence for at least some period of D0 or worse during the course of the year is probably like once every 2 years (given that the weekly percentile is nearly 1 in 3). It's not particularly rare.

Will be interesting to see whether the Youghiogheny River Lake approaches the lows of last autumn. Currently, around 1415.8' ASL. Looks like it fell to around 1,369' in early November 2024, although I'm not sure of the exact low. Further research suggests a low of about 1,362' in December 1998, and a value in 1991 of about 6' higher than that. The December 21, 1998 low was said to have been exceeded twice, in 1954 & 1957. Source: A bridge to the 19th century Not sure we reach as low as last fall unless October is dry, but decent odds of dropping below 1,400' again. Not sure when the "ghost bridge" becomes visible.

Those don't sound like representative readings. Likely in a sheltered valley or "frost hollow" that would violate WMO siting guidelines.

Officially came in as 3rd driest August on record for the Commonwealth. Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont all had their driest Augusts of record.

The State of New Hampshire had its driest summer on record, although precipitation for the CONUS as a whole came in a bit above normal.

Extremely dry conditions noted in many areas. Ohio obliterated the record for driest August. Kentucky & Vermont also had their driest Augusts on record.

Vermont and Kentucky also had their driest Augusts on record, with Missouri and Pennsylvania coming in 3rd place, and West Virginia in 2nd place.

Incredible. Easily the driest August on record for Ohio, with a statewide average of 1.01" of rainfall. The previous record was 1.31" in August 1951.