TheClimateChanger

This is a good point. In Texas and out west, they are fighting climate change by seeding the hell out of all of their clouds. I don't know why they don't implement a rain depletion program in the east. Like yesterday was a disaster waiting to happen with those slow-moving heavy thunderstorms. Then, it's like - oh no, the subway is flooding... the NJ Turnpike is submerged! I wonder if they could have zapped the clouds with directed electromagnetic energy or laser beams to heat the surrounding atmosphere up, potentially weakening the advancing storm system? Has there been any research into this?

Wow! Hopefully, these superheated lake and sea surface conditions add enough moisture to the atmosphere to keep such high temperatures at bay for the next heat dome!

The all-time record high is 80F, set on July 25, 2011, August 4, 2011, and August 14-16, 1988. I think that could be the next domino to fall.

Looks like the water temperature at the Buffalo crib site (water intake for the city of Buffalo) on Lake Erie reached a scorching 77F this morning, which exceeds the daily record by 1F (continuous record since 1927). Keep in mind, this reading comes from a depth of 30 or 40 feet below the water surface, so the nearshore temperature could be several degrees higher. 139FZUS51 KBUF 151403NSHBUFNearshore Marine ForecastNational Weather Service Buffalo NY1003 AM EDT Tue Jul 15 2025For waters within five nautical miles of shoreWaves are the significant wave height - the average of the highest1/3 of the wave spectrum. Occasional wave height is the average ofthe highest 1/10 of the wave spectrum.LEZ020-152100-Upper Niagara River and Buffalo Harbor-1003 AM EDT Tue Jul 15 2025.THIS AFTERNOON...Light and variable winds. Sunny..TONIGHT...Light and variable winds. Mainly clear..WEDNESDAY...South winds 10 knots or less becoming southwest. Achance of showers and thunderstorms..WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Southwest winds 10 knots or less. A chance ofshowers and thunderstorms in the evening, then a chance ofshowers overnight..THURSDAY...Southwest winds 5 to 10 knots becoming northwest.Showers likely with a chance of thunderstorms..FRIDAY...North winds 5 to 10 knots becoming light and variable.Mostly cloudy, then clearing..SATURDAY...Southeast winds less than 10 knots becoming south. Achance of showers Saturday night.Winds and waves higher in and near thunderstorms.The water temperature off Buffalo is 77 degrees.

Zooming in a bit.

Sure, 110 in Virginia on July 15, 1954. What a joke. It's 10 degrees warmer than all of its next day neighbors. Absolute rubbish. It was a hot day, absolutely. With some 100s, the second highest reading (also a little suspect, given the nearby 92) was 106. But this 110F reading is absolute fantasy. It's also nowhere near the East Coast, BTW.

Record high minimum of 74F tied at Dulles Airport yesterday. A record high minimum of 69F was tied at Elkins, W. Va. for the second consecutive day. The urban heat contaminated records at DCA and BWI barely register the warmth.

Quick update here. With some additional observations from yesterday now available, it looks like DC-Dulles Airport also tied a record high minimum yesterday.

Looks like it made it down to 68F at Elkins this morning, 2F below the record high minimum set in 1916, so they will end their record high minima streak at 2 days.

Record high minima tied at Bridgeport (73F) and Islip (74F) yesterday. Not even record-breaking rainfall can flush out this unbelievably resilient heat. Elkins, West Virginia also saw a record high minimum tied (69F), while Concord, New Hampshire, Burlington, Vermont, and Beckley, West Virginia, each matched their 2nd warmest low temperature for July 14. Pittsburgh, PA, Charleston, WV, and Huntington, WV all matched their third warmest low for July 14. There would have been additional records, but unfortunately, several places were unable to retain their heat through 1 am EDT.

Bringing the climate perspectives map forward to Friday (with the forecast values), here's where we could be on the summer to date on July 18 as far as rankings are concerned. Guidance is coalescing on some big heat risks as we move later into the month, so there should be plenty of opportunities to improve upon these rankings.

Guidance certainly seems to be coalescing on some more heat risks as we move later into July. One neat feature of the Climate Perspectives map is that it allows for to forecast ahead up to 5 days. Now, I think the forecast is pretty conservative, but regardless, looking ahead to Friday, here's what it could look like for the season to date. Burlington - you could have your hottest summer to date. Concord, 2nd hottest. Hartford, 4th hottest. Blue Hill (Milton) should continue to see 3rd hottest conditions. Islip, NY, Elkins, WV, Beckley, WV, Raleigh-Durham, NC - you could all be in the midst of a record-breaking summer. Top 5s and 10s all over the place, even with some very sucky station threads out in the mix. Looks even better when its focused on minimum temperature, then 1s start popping up all over the place. Even BOS jumps to 3rd place when you look at minima. I guess those local sea breezes aren't doing as much work at night.

Thankfully, the storm held off just long enough for yesterday's 72F record high minimum to hold.

Anecdotally, the atmosphere seems thicker and more "vaporous" than it did decades ago. More Venusian might be a good way to describe it. In my hometown, the normal July minima used to be in the 50s, but now reaching the 50s there is like a big achievement in the month of July. Normal lows from decades ago are now seen as a nice break from the heat. Very weird to see in the absence of any UHI increases. All very bizarre.

73F at Williamsport, PA, and 72F at Scranton, PA, also matched record high minima.

Clouds and showers should keep high temperatures at bay today. Overall, still a pretty good look for summer lovers:

Very impressive overnight heat retention today in western New York. We will have to see if these temperatures hold, but the low of 75F would tie the record high minimum in Buffalo (1936) and the low of 73F would tie the record high minimum in Rochester (1987). At Watertown, the morning low was just 78F, 4F above the record high (74F, in 2016) and just 1F shy of the all-time record high minimum of 79F set on July 21, 2011 (records dating to 1949). The morning low of 76F at Syracuse would easily surpass the daily record high minimum of 73F, set in 1972. Developing convection could wreak havoc on these, although with dewpoints so high they might hold regardless.

One note on the IEM estimates, they tend to be off from the actual NCEI values. Comparing 1936 summer as a whole, they have it warmer than NCEI in many places (except the southwest, which they show as decidedly colder). I think the estimates for recent years are generally the opposite bias (i.e., a bit cooler). Either way, should come in as a very warm summer for the CONUS. Not sure we poach 2021 or 1936 though.

For comparison purposes, here are 1936 & 2021 to date. These are the two hottest summers on record for the CONUS. 1936 2021

Wow? Why would @ChescoWxweenie this post? These are raw, unadjusted data collected from a number of locations with PORs of 100-150+ years, and a sizeable number of them are from rural locations - including Elkins, West Virginia, which has seen its hottest start to summer on record [and by a sizeable margin, at that]. I would have thought this data would be right up his alley, since he doesn't care for any adjustments.

Just a theory, but I suspect this more closely aligns with the conditions for most of SNE.