August 2025 Discussion-OBS - cooler than normal first week but a big comeback to warmer than normal for the last 2-3 weeks

[cleetussnow]

9 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

why shouldn't we talk about our disappearing winters and lengthening summers?

Theres a whole forum for that.  Thats a great place to discuss 30 year averages all over the place, not just here.  You could link those discussions here anytime.  Too many posts here about a warm day or a string of warm days this year are the fault of man made global warming especially this year, when we have 1 really above normal month since December.  It’s just thin gruel in the context of the weather.  

global climate writ large, thats the right place because this is a hot year on a global scale.  It’s just not that hot here this year in extremis over the last 40.  So lets keep it to weather.

[Sundog]

18 minutes ago, FPizz said:

No such thing as current weather in the obs thread, you should know this by now.  5 people control this thread and 1 awful met that said Erin was going into the Gulf.  

You're free to post as much as you want. 

No one "controls" the thread. 

[donsutherland1]

55 minutes ago, the_other_guy said:

The weather observation forum that spends the whole time talking about 30 year averages and climate change.

 

Was it supposed to be this cloudy and drizzly today in any forecast? I was quite surprised

The hourly guidance showed mostly cloudy skies this morning. The clouds should break late morning/early afternoon yielding to partly sunny skies.

[Sundog]

14 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

Theres a whole forum for that.  Thats a great place to discuss 30 year averages all over the place, not just here.  You could link those discussions here anytime.  Too many posts here about a warm day or a string of warm days this year are the fault of man made global warming especially this year, when we have 1 really above normal month since December.  It’s just thin gruel in the context of the weather.  

global climate writ large, thats the right place because this is a hot year on a global scale.  It’s just not that hot here this year in extremis over the last 40.  So lets keep it to weather.

It would be pretty weird to discuss hyper local temperature and precipitation trends in a general climate change thread. 

And departures don't mean shit anymore unfortunately when they're shifting so quick. 

Your -1 was considered slightly above normal just 5 years ago. 

I'd rather discuss overall monthly averages and rank them coldest to warmest according to the available record than use departure. 

 

[IrishRob17]

6 minutes ago, Sundog said:

You're free to post as much as you want. 

No one "controls" the thread. 

Not only that but no one is required to actually read each post. I can't be the only one who scrolls through the thread and read only the stuff that interests me at the time. Suns out, guns out here, 76/71. 

[forkyfork]

2 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

Theres a whole forum for that.  Thats a great place to discuss 30 year averages all over the place, not just here.  You could link those discussions here anytime.  Too many posts here about a warm day or a string of warm days this year are the fault of man made global warming especially this year, when we have 1 really above normal month since December.  It’s just thin gruel in the context of the weather.  

global climate writ large, thats the right place because this is a hot year on a global scale.  It’s just not that hot here this year in extremis over the last 40.  So lets keep it to weather.

winter related username doesn't like climate change talk, many such cases

[Sundog]

8 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

winter related username doesn't like climate change talk, many such cases

I love climate change talk because I love winter. And my favorite season is Autumn, the biggest casualty of climate change. 

 

[Dark Star]

1 hour ago, cleetussnow said:

Theres a whole forum for that.  Thats a great place to discuss 30 year averages all over the place, not just here.  You could link those discussions here anytime.  Too many posts here about a warm day or a string of warm days this year are the fault of man made global warming especially this year, when we have 1 really above normal month since December.  It’s just thin gruel in the context of the weather.  

global climate writ large, thats the right place because this is a hot year on a global scale.  It’s just not that hot here this year in extremis over the last 40.  So lets keep it to weather.

Is there a way to link a response to something on this thread to the banter thread?  I hate responding to non-topic "discussions", and further clogging up the thread, but I can't help myself...

[SACRUS]

83 / 68 sunny now

[psv88]

It’s a freaking online weather forum. Who gives a shit if a discussion “belongs” in another thread. What a bunch of babies. 
 

if you don’t like a post don’t read it. We discuss weather here. Yes even as a believer in climate change some of the posts are excessive, I just don’t read them and scroll on, like an adult. 

[uofmiami]

1 hour ago, SACRUS said:

 

The GFS after 4 run cycles lost the tropical storm it had going into the Fl/Southeast in the 8/26 - 8/29 timeframe.

No surprise, Euro didn't bite & only the AI EURO did for a run.

[IrishRob17]

42 minutes ago, Dark Star said:

Is there a way to link a response to something on this thread to the banter thread?  I hate responding to non-topic "discussions", and further clogging up the thread, but I can't help myself...

Yes, I quoted this over to the Banter thread for anyone else wanting to know how. 83/74 here now. 

[cleetussnow]

1 hour ago, forkyfork said:

winter related username doesn't like climate change talk, many such cases

My user name is a character in a movie, who is pictured in my sig.  

I go to the climate change thread all the time.  You should check it out. 

 

[forkyfork]

16 minutes ago, cleetussnow said:

My user name is a character in a movie, who is pictured in my sig.  

I go to the climate change thread all the time.  You should check it out. 

 

why should we discuss our local impacts on another subforum?

[LibertyBell]

5 hours ago, bluewave said:

My guess is that the stronger sea breeze in recent years has been also playing  a role reducing the 90° days relative to the increases at other areas. Stronger sea breeze circulation South Shore of NYC and LI.

Plus there have been several equipment moves at JFK since 1948. So it appears that the observations prior to 1995 were at warmer parts of the airport a little further from Jamaica Bay. Making it easier to record 90° days further from the sea breeze. The current location of the ASOS since 1995 is right on the water. 

JFK is so large that there is a significant difference in temperatures closer to the Ozone Park side than the current ASOS near the cooler 5 towns right on the Bay.
 

See the full location history for this station using the Historical Observing Metadata Repository.

Latitude Longitude History

LATITUDE	LONGITUDE	PRECISION	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
40.63915	-73.7639	DDddddd	1996-05-01	Present
40.63915	-73.76401	DDddddd	1995-05-01	1996-05-01
40.65	-73.78333	DDMM	1948-07-01	1995-05-01
40.65	-73.783333	DDMM	1948-06-01	1948-07-01

Elevation History

ELEVATION	ELEVATION TYPE	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
2.7	GROUND	1996-05-01	Present
3.4	GROUND	1995-05-01	1996-05-01
4.9	GROUND	1982-01-01	1995-05-01
10.1	GROUND	1958-01-01	1982-01-01
9.1	GROUND	1951-01-01	1958-01-01
6.1	GROUND	1948-07-01	1951-01-01
4.9	GROUND	1948-06-01	1948-07-01
9.8	BAROMETRIC	1996-05-01	Present

Relocation History

RELOCATION	DATE¹
.3 mi S	1957-12-18

Location Descriptions

DESCRIPTION	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
E SIDE JFK INTL AP MIDWAY BTWN RWYS 4L-22R/4R-22L AND RWYS 13L-31R/13R-31L	1995-06-27	Present
ROOF OF INTL ARRIVALS BLDG WITHIN AND 1 MI S OF PO AT JFK AIRPORT	1991-06-13	1995-06-27
0 OF PO	1948-06-01	1948-07-01

Topography Descriptions

TOPOGRAPHY	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
JAMAICA BAY WITH NUMEROUS SMALL MARSH ISLANDS TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. ATLANTIC OCEAN IS 5 MILES TO THE SOUTH SEPARATED BY A BARRIER SAND PENINSULA HOME TO THE ROCKAWAYS. TERRAIN AT AIRPORT COMPLEX IS FLAT WITH MUCH OF IT SANDFILL. HEAVILY POPULATED WITH CONGESTED CAR TRAVEL TO THE NORTH AND EAST.	1996-05-01	Present
JAMAICA BAY W NUMEROUS SMALL MARSH ISLANDS. TERRAIN FLAT AND SANDFILL. HEAVILY POPULATED AND CONJESTED CAR TRAVEL TO N AND E	1991-06-13	1996-05-01

 

True and I've experienced this myself, I hit 90 on Thursday while JFK was somehow stuck at 85 (this entire week).  I was wondering how that could happen, I guess the sea breeze takes longer to reach here even though I'm 5 miles east of the airport?

 

[LibertyBell]

1 hour ago, Sundog said:

I love climate change talk because I love winter. And my favorite season is Autumn, the biggest casualty of climate change. 

 

I want cold weather restricted to winter, I remember shivering in a lot of cold Octobers back in the 80s and 90s.  I guess we each like our own thing, but having warmer Falls really saves on heating costs.

 

[LibertyBell]

2 hours ago, Sundog said:

It would be pretty weird to discuss hyper local temperature and precipitation trends in a general climate change thread. 

And departures don't mean shit anymore unfortunately when they're shifting so quick. 

Your -1 was considered slightly above normal just 5 years ago. 

I'd rather discuss overall monthly averages and rank them coldest to warmest according to the available record than use departure. 

 

I like Don's idea of using 1951-1980 climate norms, because it fits in with what a lot of us grew up with.  

PS it's ALL really interesting, not just temperature trends but dew point and precipitation trends too.  I really hate high humidity, but it's still interesting to talk about.

You can hate something and still find the discussion on it interesting.

 

[LibertyBell]

2 hours ago, SACRUS said:

 

Records:

Highs:

EWR: 99 (1944)
NYC: 95 (2015)
LGA: 94 (1944)
JFK: 94 (1978)


Lows:

EWR: 57 (1945)
NYC: 56 (1979)
LGA: 58 (1979)
JFK: 56 (1979)


Historical:

 

1777 - The Battle of Bennington, delayed a day by rain, was fought. The rain delayed British reinforcements, and allowed the Vermont Militia to arrive in time, enabling the Americans to win a victory by defeating two enemy forces, one at a time. (David Ludlum)

1909 - A dry spell began in San Bernardino County of southern California that lasted until the 6th of May in 1912, a stretch of 994 days! Another dry spell, lasting 767 days, then began in October of 1912. (The Weather Channel)

1916 - Altapass, NC, was deluged with 22.22 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)

1946: St. Louis, MO set its 24 hour rainfall record with a deluge of 8.78 inches on this date through the 16th. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)

1969: During the early evening, an Air Force Reconnaissance plane investigating Hurricane Camille in the Gulf of Mexico found an unbelievably low central pressure of 905 millibars or 26.72 inches of mercury. This information allowed forecasters to warn residents along the coast that Camille would cause damage of unprecedented proportions. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)

1974: De Pere, WI -- Lightning struck and killed a youth as he was driving a tractor on a family farm three miles west of De Pere. (Ref. Lightning-The Underrated Killer.pdf)

1978: One foot of snow fell at Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)

1980: DCA, first minimum temperature below 70 °F since July 14th a record consecutive number of hot nights. (Ref. Washington Weather Records - KDCA)

 

1980: Massive flooding was reported in Texas along the Cueces and Frio Rivers. Heavy rainfall from Hurricane Allen pushed rivers to levels to as much as 10 feet above flood stage. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)

1981: On this date through the 19th, the center of Tropical Storm Dennis moved slowly through the Florida Straits and onto the lower southwest coast the next morning. Dennis then moved northeastward through southern Florida, emerging into the Atlantic between Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach early on the 18th, taking nearly three days to cross the state. Highest winds occurred mostly in squalls well east of the center. The highest wind gusts reported with Dennis were 55 to 60 mph along the lower southeast coast on the 17th. Two tornadoes were reported in Plantation Key and Haulover Beach as Dennis moved through the Keys and Florida Bay, but no injuries or significant damage resulted. 10 to 20 inches of rain fell south and east of Lake Okeechobee, with amounts of 5 to 10 inches reported along the southeast and east-central coast. West Kendall measured 20.37 inches and amounts of 19 to 20 inches were common through the Homestead/Florida City area. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1986: Thunderstorms containing devastating winds ripped across sections of eastern South Dakota. Winds gusting to 100 mph uprooted trees and damaged buildings across northern Hanson County. Several farms had all of their barns, silos, garages, and small buildings wiped out from the extreme winds.  A powerful thunderstorm rolled across extreme northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa. Winds were estimated at 70 mph across portions of Dixon and Dakota Counties uprooting numerous trees and damaging homes and power lines. Across the Missouri River in Woodbury County, Sioux City received 60 mph winds causing some power outages and scattered damage across town. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1987 - Afternoon and evening thunderstorms developing along a cold front produced severe weather from Oklahoma to Wisconsin and Lower Michigan. Thunderstorms in central Illinois produced wind gusts to 80 mph at Springfield which toppled two large beer tents at the state fair injuring 58 persons. Thunderstorms also drenched Chicago IL with 2.90 inches of rain, making August 1987 their wettest month of record. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1988 - Thunderstorms developing along a slow moving cold front produced severe weather from North Dakota to Lower Michigan during the day. Nine tornadoes were sighted in North Dakota, and thunderstorms also produced hail three inches in diameter at Lakota ND, and wind gusts to 83 mph at Marais MI. Thirty-seven cities in the northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Rockford IL with a reading of 104 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1989 - Late afternoon and evening thunderstorms in the Central High Plains Region produced golf ball size hail at La Junta CO, Intercanyon CO, and Custer SD. Afternoon thunderstorms over South Texas drenched Brownsville with 2.60 inches of rain. Fair skies allowed viewing of the late evening full lunar eclipse from the Great Lakes Region to the Northern and Central Plains Region, and across much of the western third of the country. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1992 - One of the most destructive United States hurricanes of record started modestly as a tropical wave that emerged from the west coast of Africa on August 14. The wave spawned a tropical depression on August 16, which became Tropical Storm Andrew the next day.

 

Records:

Highs:

EWR: 99 (1944)
NYC: 95 (2015)
LGA: 94 (1944)
JFK: 94 (1978)

 

1944 endless summer continued....

PS Tony, I thought the NYC record high for today was 96 set in 1944-- or was that for yesterday?

 

[LibertyBell]

5 hours ago, bluewave said:

My guess is that the stronger sea breeze in recent years has been also playing  a role reducing the 90° days relative to the increases at other areas. Stronger sea breeze circulation South Shore of NYC and LI.

Plus there have been several equipment moves at JFK since 1948. So it appears that the observations prior to 1995 were at warmer parts of the airport a little further from Jamaica Bay. Making it easier to record 90° days further from the sea breeze. The current location of the ASOS since 1995 is right on the water. 

JFK is so large that there is a significant difference in temperatures closer to the Ozone Park side than the current ASOS near the cooler 5 towns right on the Bay.
 

See the full location history for this station using the Historical Observing Metadata Repository.

Latitude Longitude History

LATITUDE	LONGITUDE	PRECISION	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
40.63915	-73.7639	DDddddd	1996-05-01	Present
40.63915	-73.76401	DDddddd	1995-05-01	1996-05-01
40.65	-73.78333	DDMM	1948-07-01	1995-05-01
40.65	-73.783333	DDMM	1948-06-01	1948-07-01

Elevation History

ELEVATION	ELEVATION TYPE	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
2.7	GROUND	1996-05-01	Present
3.4	GROUND	1995-05-01	1996-05-01
4.9	GROUND	1982-01-01	1995-05-01
10.1	GROUND	1958-01-01	1982-01-01
9.1	GROUND	1951-01-01	1958-01-01
6.1	GROUND	1948-07-01	1951-01-01
4.9	GROUND	1948-06-01	1948-07-01
9.8	BAROMETRIC	1996-05-01	Present

Relocation History

RELOCATION	DATE¹
.3 mi S	1957-12-18

Location Descriptions

DESCRIPTION	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
E SIDE JFK INTL AP MIDWAY BTWN RWYS 4L-22R/4R-22L AND RWYS 13L-31R/13R-31L	1995-06-27	Present
ROOF OF INTL ARRIVALS BLDG WITHIN AND 1 MI S OF PO AT JFK AIRPORT	1991-06-13	1995-06-27
0 OF PO	1948-06-01	1948-07-01

Topography Descriptions

TOPOGRAPHY	BEGIN DATE¹	END DATE¹
JAMAICA BAY WITH NUMEROUS SMALL MARSH ISLANDS TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. ATLANTIC OCEAN IS 5 MILES TO THE SOUTH SEPARATED BY A BARRIER SAND PENINSULA HOME TO THE ROCKAWAYS. TERRAIN AT AIRPORT COMPLEX IS FLAT WITH MUCH OF IT SANDFILL. HEAVILY POPULATED WITH CONGESTED CAR TRAVEL TO THE NORTH AND EAST.	1996-05-01	Present
JAMAICA BAY W NUMEROUS SMALL MARSH ISLANDS. TERRAIN FLAT AND SANDFILL. HEAVILY POPULATED AND CONJESTED CAR TRAVEL TO N AND E	1991-06-13	1996-05-01

 

so wild so many changes and yet there were no changes between 1948 and 1991 Chris, what made them make all these changes, they should have left it at the 1948 location, this makes the data not look so comparable....

 

and what was its original location, can that be plotted on a map? It lists its 1948 location as 0 of PO lol

Is the present location near Rockaway Parkway, that runs right along the east side of the airport?

I can definitely confirm that my readings were much more in line with JFK prior to 1995.  Since then, I'm usually a few degrees hotter in the summer.  2010 was the one exception, it makes me wonder how many 90/95/100 days JFK would have recorded in 2010 at the old location lol?

PS it's hotter even east of JFK on Long Island, as long as you get away from that Bay....

 

[cleetussnow]

28 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

why should we discuss our local impacts on another subforum?

Start a thread in this forum.  Call it local impacts of climate change.  I got no problem with that.  It’s a great tropic.  I’d read it so would everyone else.
 

Tom Dick and Harry type daily weather events discussion belongs here. Rain next week, dry pattern this month, ice storm, hurricane, that sort of thing.  All that stuff should be here.  Septembers getting warmer over the years, warm anomalies increasing in February over the years should be there.  That way you can be quantitative and say Septembers are getting warmer and heres the data.  Example:  If it’s modeled to be 89 on September 12, that is a pattern development for the September thread.  You don’t want to say it’s hot on September 12 because of climate change if it turns out it’s 41 on September 14th.  Wouldn’t want to say climate change has reversed in 2 days.  This is conflating 2 dynamics.  
 

All good my friend. 

[LibertyBell]

12 hours ago, STORMANLI said:

Going to guess at this;

JFK is probably <1 mile from Jamaica Bay and beyond that obviously has a longer fetch seabreeze off of the larger and much deeper Atlantic Ocean. 

HVN is further from the coast and  can have a fetch of ~20 miles, Long Island Sound is not as deep. I believe in the area of 65 feet for the central area.  Maybe the Sound Breeze takes longer to develop and thus HVN can have a higher maxima before the onset. 

Other than that, I got nuttin'.

You're probably right, I recorded 90 on Thursday and I'm 5 miles east of JFK, while the airport was stuck at 85 (not just that day but the entire week.)

 

[bluewave]

Just now, LibertyBell said:

True and I've experienced this myself, I hit 90 on Thursday while JFK was somehow stuck at 85 (this entire week).  I was wondering how that could happen, I guess the sea breeze takes longer to reach here even though I'm 5 miles east of the airport?

 

The new micronet stations in Queens give us a wider understanding of the local sea beeeze influences. Stations closer to the water have fewer 90° and 100° days. So interior portions of Queens are closer to the type of heat which places like Newark and Harrison regularly experience. 
 

2025  days reaching 90° and 100° 

JFK……………..…90 days…15…100 days…2

Ozone Park……..90 days…17….100 days…2

Maspeth………….90 days..23…100 days…2

LGA…………………90 days…25…100 days..2

Astoria……………..90 days…25…100 days 3

Corona…………….90 days…30...100 days…6

Queensbridge….90 days…31….100 days..3

Harrison…………..90 days…35…100 days…6

Newark…………….90 days…37….100 days..7

[LibertyBell]

22 hours ago, donsutherland1 said:

I ran the numbers for 1995 and 1993 where summer mean temperature was weighted at 50% and where the remaining 50% weight was equally divided among the other three variables. In that case, 1993 tops 1995. 2010 remains at the top.

Don could you run the numbers for 1949 and 1944 at NYC too with this new weighting system you're using? They seem like they are very close (1949 is 9th and 1944 is 10th), if you used your new weighting system would 1944 leapfrog over 1949?

August 1944 had so many heat records that still stand to this day.

It would be interesting to see how summers rank in terms of record highs and let's bring September into the mix.  For either NYC or JFK (or both) can summers be ranked in terms of most record daily high temperatures in JJAS?

 

[Stormlover74]

Wow Erin up to 160 already. We dodged a bullet for sure

[LibertyBell]

6 minutes ago, bluewave said:

The new micronet stations in Queens give us a wider understanding of the local sea beeeze influences. Stations closer to the water have fewer 90° and 100° days. So interior portions of Queens are closer to the type of heat which places like Newark and Harrison regularly experience. 
 

2025  days reaching 90° and 100° 

JFK……………..…90 days…15…100 days…2

Ozone Park……..90 days…17….100 days…2

Maspeth………….90 days..23…100 days…2

LGA…………………90 days…25…100 days..2

Astoria……………..90 days…25…100 days 3

Corona…………….90 days…30...100 days…6

Queensbridge….90 days…31….100 days..3

Harrison…………..90 days…35…100 days…6

Newark…………….90 days…37….100 days..7

Unfortunately, I'm not in Queens, I'm in Nassau County so there's no way to do that here, do you know if they are planning on expanding the micronet to Nassau County?

Lots of us exceeded JFK's 102 degrees in late June.  I remember the sea breeze made it there and then got stuck there before backing off lol.

 

[LibertyBell]

Just now, Stormlover74 said:

Wow Erin up to 160 already. We dodged a bullet for sure

There was a zero chance of that ever coming here, but I love seeing Cat 5's in the middle of the ocean not affecting anyone.

 

[LibertyBell]

6 minutes ago, bluewave said:

The new micronet stations in Queens give us a wider understanding of the local sea beeeze influences. Stations closer to the water have fewer 90° and 100° days. So interior portions of Queens are closer to the type of heat which places like Newark and Harrison regularly experience. 
 

2025  days reaching 90° and 100° 

JFK……………..…90 days…15…100 days…2

Ozone Park……..90 days…17….100 days…2

Maspeth………….90 days..23…100 days…2

LGA…………………90 days…25…100 days..2

Astoria……………..90 days…25…100 days 3

Corona…………….90 days…30...100 days…6

Queensbridge….90 days…31….100 days..3

Harrison…………..90 days…35…100 days…6

Newark…………….90 days…37….100 days..7

You don't even need to get that far into the interior on many of these sea breeze days, I'm a few miles south of Sunrise Highway (but also a few miles north of the ocean), and it often doesn't get here until after 3-4 pm.

I'm a little suspicious of 6-7 days of 100+ lol, the summer hasn't been hot enough to do that (1993 and 2010 were wall to wall heat.)

Wait, are you sure EWR has had 7 days of 100+ Chris? I thought they only had 4. They're still behind 1949 and 1993 but now it's getting close.

 

[LibertyBell]

11 minutes ago, bluewave said:

The new micronet stations in Queens give us a wider understanding of the local sea beeeze influences. Stations closer to the water have fewer 90° and 100° days. So interior portions of Queens are closer to the type of heat which places like Newark and Harrison regularly experience. 
 

2025  days reaching 90° and 100° 

JFK……………..…90 days…15…100 days…2

Ozone Park……..90 days…17….100 days…2

Maspeth………….90 days..23…100 days…2

LGA…………………90 days…25…100 days..2

Astoria……………..90 days…25…100 days 3

Corona…………….90 days…30...100 days…6

Queensbridge….90 days…31….100 days..3

Harrison…………..90 days…35…100 days…6

Newark…………….90 days…37….100 days..7

If we had this kind of thing in summers like 1993, 2010, etc, do you think they would have recorded even more 90/95/100 degree days?

 

[winterwarlock]

2 hours ago, Sundog said:

It would be pretty weird to discuss hyper local temperature and precipitation trends in a general climate change thread. 

And departures don't mean shit anymore unfortunately when they're shifting so quick. 

Your -1 was considered slightly above normal just 5 years ago. 

I'd rather discuss overall monthly averages and rank them coldest to warmest according to the available record than use departure. 

 

Not in an August discussion  thread

[Stormlover74]

6 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

There was a zero chance of that ever coming here, but I love seeing Cat 5's in the middle of the ocean not affecting anyone.

 

Sure but it could've hit somewhere along the eastern seaboard and we could've had a strong hurricane up here