donsutherland1

Recent research shows that the Pacific–Japan (PJ) pattern, a Rossby wave–driven circulation mode, triggers anticyclonic systems that expand the subtropical high, reducing latent heat loss and boosting solar heating across regions such as the Kuroshio Extension, thereby fueling extreme sea surface warming in the Northwest Pacific. The ridging driving these marine heatwaves often produces atmospheric heatwaves. Both Japan and South Korea recorded their hottest summer on record this year. Shanghai recorded a record 26 consecutive 95° or above days. Climate models project that under continued greenhouse gas emissions, marine heatwaves in the Northwest Pacific are projected to become more frequent, longer-lasting, and more intense. A research summary described a sort of self-reinforcing warming process driving the marine heatwaves as follows: Rising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere... are driving more heat into the ocean's surface layer. This creates a greater temperature differential with deeper water and less turbulent mixing with colder water at depth, which causes the surface mixed layer to become thinner. Heat entering the ocean becomes trapped in this shallower layer, which further accelerates surface warming. The references to "more heat" at the ocean's surface layer and "colder water at depth" essentially shoot down any volcanic hypothesis. The opposite would need to be true if the volcanic idea had merit.

Several quick things: 1. Neither explains the amount of energy that would be required for volcanic activity to have been driving the heating of the oceans 2. Neither can explain why the warming is top-down not bottom up 3. When it comes to SSTs, 2025 has been running either 2nd or 3rd warmest. Day-to-day fluctuations are less important than the overall trajectory. Indeed, their SST chart contains a material omission that shows that the steep drop was, in fact, a fluctuation. 4. No credible or compelling evidence is used to support the following statement: "The Sun, the oceans, stochastic events, and the very design of the system far overwhelm anything man can do to the climate and weather..." Bottom line: The scientific evidence related to the warming oceans is consistent with what would be expected from enhanced greenhouse gas forcing. Some cooling of the oceans would be expected from ENSO. Oceanic heat content continues to increase. CO2's properties are independent of whether CO2 is released from volcanic activity or human activities. Those properties are the same regardless of how it is released into the atmosphere.

The bad information is unbelievable.

I saw that Lytton reached 40.0C. A large number of sites in BC exceeded 35C. Today, Lytton could surpass 40C.

Generally cool and dry conditions will persist through tomorrow. Highs will generally top out in the upper 70s with lows in the 50s outside New York City and low 60s in New York City. It will turn somewhat warmer late in the week with highs on Thursday through Saturday reaching the lower and possibly middle 80s before another cooler air mass moves into the region. A system could bring some showers on Friday. Another round of showers is possible late Saturday into Sunday. The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was -0.3°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was -0.4°C for the week centered around August 27. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged +0.33°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged -0.32°C. Neutral ENSO conditions will likely continue into early autumn. The SOI was -1.42 today. The preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) was +0.304 today.

Since 1869, there were 26 cases prior to 2025 where August saw < 2" of rain. Just over two-thirds (69%) went on to see a drier than normal (historical 1869-2024 baseline) September. Of those dry September cases, 61% then saw above normal rainfall in October, but 39% experienced another month of below normal rainfall (again using the historic baseline). Anticipating that the question might be raised concerning snowfall in the winter that follows, the shaded regions had the highest frequency of < 20", < 15", and < 10" snowfall. The non-shaded regions had the highest frequency of 30" or more snowfall (with or without the August precipitation constraint). Nevertheless, the statistical relationship is weak.

Consistent with the idea that a dry end of August often leads to below normal rainfall during the first week of September and September overall, the latest NBM has further trimmed rainfall amounts from yesterday's runs. Now, it shows some showers on Friday and then Saturday evening into Sunday morning with a frontal passage. Rainfall amounts for both events are light. The latest CFSv2 shows drier than normal conditions through at least its Week 1 and Week 2 forecasts. All said, early on, September appears to be on course for a drier than normal month. Model skill falls off sharply beyond two weeks.

New York City had its coolest August since 2000.

Britain has recorded its hottest summer since records began in 1884, with average temperatures reaching 16.10 °C, the Met Office said today. The figure surpasses the previous 2018 record and runs more than 1.5 °C above the seasonal norm, highlighting the accelerating impact of climate change. Moreover, all of the five hottest summers have occurred since 2000, including three since 2018. The record heat follows searing European summers marked by deadly wildfires in Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. Scientists say the blazes were more than 20 percent more intense due to global warming, leaving at least 20 dead, displacing tens of thousands, and burning over one million hectares. Globally, June 1-August 31, 2025 will rank as the third warmest on record on the ERA-5 dataset. It will wind up about 0.1°C warmer than fourth ranked 2019. Globally, every year in the 2020s has ranked among the 8 warmest such periods on record: 2020 (7th), 2021 (8th), 2022 (6th), 2023 (2nd), 2024 (1st), and 2025 (3rd). The most recent June-August not to rank among the 10 warmest such periods was 2015 (11th).

The oefficient of determination for December is very weak (0.013): Here's the scatter diagram: The coefficient of determination is almost zero for seasonal snowfall (almost no relationship) at 0.004: Here's the scatter diagram: For cases when August had a monthly mean temperature below 74°, 41.4% of winters saw 30" or more snow. For all other cases, 37.8% of the following winters saw 30" or more snowfall.

In addition, Islip ranked fourth and White Plains ranked 10th.

Frequency of Measurable Daily Rainfall in September for NYC: Frequency of 1.00" or More Daily Rainfall in September for NYC:

Many parts of the region have seen among their ten driest water years (September 1-August 31) periods: Islip: 33.71" (9th driest) New York City-JFK Airport: 30.71" (6th driest) New York City-LaGuardia Airport: 32.90" (8th driest) White Plains: 33.47" (6th driest) Newark just missed. Its 31.79" ranked as the 11th driest water year. Note: Bridgeport is missing rainfall data, so it was excluded from the list. However, if one added 1"-2" of additional precipitation, its water year would rank between 4th and 6th driest on record.

August 2007 closed without any rainfall during the last 10 days of the month, as was the case this year. September 1, 2007 opened up with a high of 79° and low of 64°; September 2025 began with a high of 78° and a low of 64°. September 2007 would go on to wind up warmer than normal with a mean temperature of 70.3° and drier than normal with monthly rainfall of just 1.81". Before one concludes that 2025 has a near identical twin, even if the outcome winds up similar over all, 2007 went on to see a strong La Niña develop following a preceding El Niño winter. The important point is that there are no "perfect" analogs so to speak. However, one needs larger samples. For example, the idea of a drier than normal September is based on 10 cases with no rainfall during August 22-31. It's just one piece of evidence. That the CFSv2 has swung from a wet to a dry idea increases confidence in that outcome. Should the forthcoming ECMWF monthly data reaffirm the earlier idea of a drier than normal September in the Northeast, confidence would increase further. Of course, the Tropics could always hurl a curve ball, perhaps later this month, that foils such forecasts. For now, with a quiet pattern expected to prevail through the near-term, one can look at some fun coincidences like the one mentioned for 2007. Generally cool and dry conditions will persist through midweek. Highs will generally top out in the upper 70s with lows in the 50s outside New York City and low 60s in New York City. It could turn somewhat warmer late in the week with highs on Thursday through Saturday approaching or reach the lower 80s before another cooler air mass moves into the region. A system could bring some rain on Friday into perhaps Saturday. Rainfall amounts appear likely to be mainly less than 0.50". The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was -0.1°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was -0.4°C for the week centered around August 20. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged +0.45°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged -0.28°C. Neutral ENSO conditions will likely continue into early autumn. The SOI was -5.23 today. The preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) was -0.084 today.

Unfortunately, the paper doesn't mention the statistical threshold that was used to determine a statistically significant relationship. I suspect that it's far less than a 90% or 95% threshold. Based on the outcomes you posted, which is very mixed, I don't think ACE is a useful predictor. Anecdotally, it may seem to hold some value, but not on a consistent or rigorous basis.

Here's where things currently stand. I expect the drought coverage to increase on Thursday's update:

It's possible that the local climate is moving into a cyclical drier period, even as the overall climate has grown wetter. If so, one might see an increase in underperformance cases. Canada's dryness is more widespread than what is expected, in general, for summer. The climate models don't provide interannual variability, though. Some climate projections from Canada's most recent national assessment in 2019. According to more recent research, summers are expected to see warmer and somewhat wetter conditions in western Canada and warmer drier conditions in both central and eastern Canada according to more recent information. The paper also notes that the climate models have shown a wet bias, so far. Finally, with regard to drought risk, it notes: The highest number of consecutive dry days are clustered in the northern regions of Canada (Fig. S7). Aside from the north, high elevation areas along the Rockies, north-western regions and the Canadian prairies have a higher number of CDD than the rest of the country. Sushama et al. (2010) reported similar results with the highest number of dry days concentrated in northern Canada followed by the Canadian Prairies. Given that Canadian Prairies is already a drought-prone area, future increase in dry spells over the region is concerning as shown by several other studies (Singh et al., 2020; Bonsal and Regier 2006).

That's the only paper I could find related to ACE and the NAO or AO.

Recent guidance has been trimming rainfall prospects for the New York City area during the first week of September. The 9/1 12z NBM now shows just 0.24" for the first week of September with maximum 1-day rainfall of 0.21". These numbers may yet change, but statistically odds favor less than 0.50" following the kind of dry end to August that occurred. Sample size is limited to just 10 cases, so sample size issues might somewhat affect the outcomes. Below is the data: The final CFSv2 forecast from August 31 favored a drier to much drier than normal September in the Northeast.

Since ACE is often brought up with regard to looking ahead to the winter. Here's what the literature has to say. In general, Atlantic hurricane activity has some relationship to the winter NAO. The connection is indirect and expressed through the NAO. High ACE seasons are linked to winters with a tendency for positive NAO. Low ACE seasons are linked to a tendency for a negative NAO. For purposes of assessing ACE, ACE is measured from the start of hurricane season to early September. These relationships are strongest during ENSO neutral winters. Many other factors contribute to the overall winter outcome.

Phoenix concluded its fourth hottest summer on record. All four have occurred since 2020 and all but 2021 since 2020 have ranked among the 10 hottest summers. Climate change is producing hotter summers.

New York City's August and Summer 2025 Summary: Summer 2025 in New York City was marked by stark contrasts, swinging between episodes of intense heat and sharp cool spells. June opened with a string of unusually cool days, before flipping mid-month to extreme heat. July was steadier but still ran warm overall, punctuated by surges into the upper 90s and several multi-day heatwaves. August shifted dramatically, dominated by persistent cool anomalies. Nearly two-thirds of the month ran below normal though a warm spell around mid-month tempered the chill. Overall, August 2025 was the coolest August since 2000. Although Summer 2025 was 0.3° above the 1991-2020 baseline (55% of days above normal) and 1.1° above the 1981-2010 baseline that preceded it, the volatility between unseasonable chill and unseasonable heat was its defining character.

August 2025 is concluding with a mean temperature of 73.7° (2.4° below the 1991-2020 baseline and 1.5° below the 1981-2010 baseline). That is the coolest August since 2000. Numerous locations in the Northeast will finish with among the 10 driest Augusts on records. Data for select sites: Allentown: 1.60" (Tied 9th driest) Boston: 0.83" (tied 4th driest) Islip: 0.53" (4th driest) Manchester: 0.64" (3rd driest) Mount Pocono: 1.42" (8th driest) New Brunswick: 1.33" (8th driest) New York City-LaGuardia Airport (8th driest) Portland: 0.53" (5th driest) Sterling: 0.85" (4th driest) Trenton: 0.82" (4th driest) Washington, DC: 0.20" (1st driest) ***New August Record*** Generally cool and dry conditions will persist through midweek. Highs will generally top out in the upper 70s with lows in the 50s outside New York City and low 60s in New York City. A system could bring some rain on Thursday or Friday. The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was -0.1°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was -0.4°C for the week centered around August 20. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged +0.45°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged -0.28°C. Neutral ENSO conditions will likely continue into early autumn. The SOI was -4.61 today. The preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) was -0.023 today.

August 2025 will finish with a monthly mean temperature under 73.0° at Baltimore. Here's the full distribution:

Washington, DC is concluding its driest August on record. August 2025 will finish with just 0.20" (5.1 mm) of rain. That will easily surpass the old record of 0.55" (14.0 mm), which was set in 1962. Precipitation records go back to 1871. Daily rainfall August 1962 vs. August 2025 is below.