ChescoWx

Sorry CoolHand! I really do appreciate your obs and all here!! - you seem to have an excellent grip on your siting and no doubt your obs are top notch!! keep those obs coming - thanks!!. I bet with your siting while I will run cooler during the day you will likely have colder nights with your valley type location. I have the same issue with winds as I am a bit down surrounded by some higher hills all around me. Thanks again and take care! Paul

Hi Redsky, if we just stick to the climate facts it looks like it might be you too?? (see below for Quakertown) In addition to the other 2 COOP/ASOS NWS observation sites available for Western Chester County - they both align well between all 3 summer observations as you can see - this is why it is reliable. Please share your daily observation files from June 1 through August 31 and I will do some analysis. Just a quick FYI for you - I just ran the climate data for Quakertown for the same time period...what do you know the summer ended with an average temperature of 73.7 that compares almost exactly to both the Glenmoore obs also at 73.7 / KMQS at 73.4 and East Nantmeal at 72.1 - where is that heat island in Upper Bucks you speak of?? Just the facts Paul

Hi Mike, the locations I mentioned with relative long consecutive data points are Glenmoore, KMQS and Coatesville/East Nantmeal. It looks like inland toward Pittsburgh also experienced near normal summer readings (see below) The key is to get away from the UHI issues at KPHL and other airports along the NE coastal plain. I know the NWS is looking into the PHL sensor problems. Does your 42 days of 90+ make you question how you could have 42 days....while KPHL at sea level has 46 days yet KPTW has only 10 days and KMQS only 9 days? What is your elevation again? Is your sensor sited in the sun? does it have a solar shield and or a fan aspirated system if it is in the sun? If not it should be located on the north - shady side of your house and away from direct sunlight. There is a site in Reading at 1000ft that has recorded not a single 90 degree reading all year. I am guessing you must be below 200 feet to even approach the KPHL heat island numbers?

Except it is far from just me....it is all of the NWS coop observation sites that report in one half of one of the biggest counties in SE PA....Keep in mind PHL airport is even less representative of the actual weather in SE PA than all of the NWS locations in Western Chesco.....they are a heat island report in the middle of a swamp 12 feet above sea level where no one lives.....my 3 sites are unique observations for a lot of folks and obviously it is NOT just me...Just trying to keep it real!

Sorry birds they are the only weather facts we have here in Western Chesco and they are all incredibly aligned for 3 distinct locations -2 with data back between 66 and 129 years - not saying where you live was not somehow hot this summer. Where I am and other observers near me recorded - it was simply a normal summer and certainly far from anywhere near a hot summer based on NWS historical observations. Just the facts as always here!! But please share your local data that shows how hot it was - thanks again!! Paul

Hey folks, Happy September!! With August being the end of the full summer months I thought I would share both the August weather stats and the summer months (June-July-August) combined averages for the summer specific to the sites that cover Western Chester County PA. This August was our warmest summer month compared to average across all 3 longer term climate observation sites (East Nantmeal / Glenmoore and KMQS GO Carlson Airport )for Western Chester County PA. August finished at 73.6 at East Nantmeal which was good for the 43rd warmest August across 129 years of data. Glenmoore at 75.5 was the 18th warmest August with 66 years of records. KMQS finished at 75.2 which was the 2nd warmest across only 15 years of data. Now, while some may have felt that the summer was hot...in reality at least here in Western Chester County the data across all 3 sites was incredibly consistent and almost an exactly average middle of the road summer regarding our average temperatures! That said as our farmers and green thumbs know rain wise it was a tad on the dry side - more on that below. Average Summer Temperatures - East Nantmeal - 72.1 degrees (+0.1 degree above normal) for the 73rd warmest summer of 129 years / Glenmoore - 73.7 degrees (also +0.1 degrees above normal) good for the 32nd warmest summer out of 66 years. Lastly, KMQS with only 15 years of data - average temp 73.4 degrees (+0.3 degrees above normal) - 7th warmest in last 15 years. Rainfall wise EN at 11.82" which is 1.61" below normal. Glenmoore at almost the same with 11.75" which is only 1.66" below normal. KMQS has only 9.34" of rain during those summer months.

A very disappointing paltry 0.08" of rain with last evening's frontal passage here in East Nantmeal. A nice stretch of near normal weather is on the way. Can open up the windows for a few days starting today. Low humidity and overnight temps in the 50's for much of the county. The next chance of rain will be Sunday night into Labor Day. The record high for today is 101 degrees from 1953. Our record low is 42 degrees in 1934. Daily rainfall record is 3.60" from 1911.

After a strong chance of storms tonight with the cold frontal passage...temps will cool to near normal for the rest of the work week. Of note while it has seemed hot this month...we are likely to only finish about 1 degree above normal for the month of August. Overall the summer months of (June-July-August) also look to finish not too far from a normal summer. I will have those final stats on Thursday as we start the month of September. The record high for today is 100 degrees set in 1953. Our record low was a chilly 39 degrees back in 1986. The daily rainfall record is the 3.40" that fell today in 1946.

A couple more above normal temp days before a cold front swings through the county tomorrow night. Temperatures by Wednesday should be just about normal with highs in the upper 70's to around 80 and night time lows in the mid to upper 50's as we head into the holiday weekend. Our record high today is 98 from 1953. The record low is 40 degrees in 1925. The daily rain record is 1.57" from 1950.

Some spots could see a shower across the county today. With temps through Wednesday remaining above our normal high this week of around 80 degrees. Of note down in Philadelphia at the PHL airport they are in the middle of their 5th "heat wave" (3 or more 90 degree days in a row) of the summer. Yesterday was their 43rd day over 90 degrees this summer. To contrast the 3 closest airports near Chester County - Coatesville (9 days) / Pottstown (10 days) West Chester (17 days) combined have seen only 36 such days! Of course here in East Nantmeal we have still seen but 1 day all summer that has reached the 90 degree mark. It seems to me we should tell our neighbors down in the big city that if they wish to avoid heat waves you don't have to go far....just to our backyards here in Chesco! Some interesting climate record notes for today in the county. Our record high is 98 degrees set in 1973. Our record low is 38 degrees set back in 1982. That low temperature is the earliest reading in the 30's ever recorded in the county with records now back to 1888. The daily rainfall record is the 3.23" that fell back in 2011.

Thanks Kevin! I appreciate that....there is another forum that is not a big fan of my analysis....

Overall this summer it has been one of the chilliest water temps in memory for many long time shore dwellers. Temps were in the 50's just 2 weeks ago. Plenty of up welling this year. Temp back down to 78 degrees today

Just a small chance of any showers by late PM today across the county. Our best chance of some showers looks to be on Tuesday PM. Our record high for today is 98 degrees from 1900. The record low is 1968 at 46 degrees. The daily rainfall record is the 5.25" that fell in 1971.

A relatively small (30%) chance of showers late today. Otherwise our warm stretch of highs the mid to upper 80's continues. The record high today is 98 degrees set in 1900. Our record low is 46 degrees from 1944. Daily rainfall record is 2.91" from 1908.

Only made it down to 62 degrees for the low in East Nantmeal but many lower spots in the county reached the comfy upper 50's. We look to continue our streak of above normal temps over the next week. Highs should generally be in the mid 80's with lows in the mid to upper 60's. Only some slight chances of rain both Friday and again on Tuesday.

Looks sunny and warm the rest of the week. The next small chance of rain comes Friday. The record high today is 94 degrees from way back in 1898. The record low temperature is 43 degrees from 1923. Our daily rainfall record is 1.40" from 1945.

Above normal temps look to continue for most of the next week or so. Normal highs are in 80 to 81 degree range. The warmest day looks to be Thursday with highs in the upper 80's across parts of the County. The record high for today is 96 degrees from 1936. Record low is 41 degrees set back in 1952. Daily rain record is the 3.38" that fell today in 1933.

Let me check with him to see the station locations. I suspect that if he included say PHL and PIT it would skew it with the UHI contamination problems at the airports.

Thanks for this PA data from Chris Martz Wx. The below PA state wide NOAA climate analysis data which is NOT confined to Southeast PA only data really matches up well with the county focused data I analyze. Clearly shows as Chris says "The average number of days per station ≥90° have not increased in Pennsylvania since 1895. Days ≥95° have decreased by a remarkable 43% (1991-2020 minus the 1926-1955 peak) This also matches well with the same remarkable drop in 90+ days at suburban locales compared to the PHL Airport in that 1991 to 2020 period.

Some rain is still falling across much of the county this AM. So far in East Nantmeal we have picked up 0.62". However some spots to my southwest appear to have picked up over 1" of rain already. The record high for today is 99 degrees set back in 1916. Our record low is 44 degrees from 1952. Daily rain record is the 2.47" that fell today back in 1937.

Clouds look to be on the increase today with rain arriving most likely after midnight across much of Chester County. Rainfall amounts with this look to range from 0.5" across SE Chesco to upwards of 1.0" toward NW Chesco. Record high temperature for today is 98 degrees set back in 1914. Our record low is the 45 degrees from 1982. The daily rainfall record is 1.41" from 2007.

Today should be our 2nd above normal temperature day after 8 straight below normal days. After another above normal day tomorrow we should slip back to near normal starting on Monday before a return to more above normal conditions by the end of this week. We should see some widespread rain starting Sunday night through Monday night. Some models continue to show around an inch of needed rain.

Today should be our first day over 80 degrees across almost all spots in Chester County in the last week! After 7 straight below normal days. We did not hit the 50's for a low here this morning in East Nantmeal...no better than 61.0 The record high for today is 96 degrees set in 1914. Our record low is 45 degrees in 1949. Daily rainfall record is 4.98" from 1939.

The low this morning was 58.6 degrees. Our record high for today is 96 degrees set back in 1913. The record low temperature is 47 degrees set in 1981. Daily rainfall record is the 3.29" that fell on this date back in 1955.

Temps dropped into the unseasonably chilly mid-60's with the storm that moved from north to south through Chester County earlier. Measurable rain on 8 of the first 17 days this month.