July 2026

[SACRUS]

Some spotty isolated showers/storms are building.

[straphanger]

It's been pretty dark in my part of Queens for the last couple hours with the showers approaching from the north.  Though I've dodged that shower over Queens, as it's too far west of me.

I see nothing but blue skies to the north so it should clear out soon.  Not sure if that next area of storms around Poughkeepsie will make it down into the city.  Bit surprising overall for a day that was supposed to be mostly sunny.

[jm1220]

Sneaky warm day here-up to 88.

[donsutherland1]

New York City (Central Park) is finishing July with a monthly mean temperature of 76.4°. Despite the hot start to the month, that is 1.1° below normal (0.1° below the older 1981-2010 baseline).

Temperatures could return to near seasonable levels for a time this weekend. Sunday could be a bit cooler than normal.

Another moderate to potentially significant rainfall is likely Monday into Tuesday. No exceptional heat is likely through the first week of August.

The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was +3.8°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was +2.2°C for the week centered around July 23. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged +3.38°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged +1.92°C. The ongoing strong El Niño will continue to strengthen through the summer.

The SOI was -26.84 today. 

The preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) was -0.295 today. 

 

[donsutherland1]

July 2026 finished with a monthly mean temperature of 76.4°, which was 1.1° below normal (0.1° below the 1981-2010 baseline).

[doncat]

Gonna finish up here with a +0.4° departure , down a long way from the first 4 days. 6" of rain on the nose... 88/65 today .

[SACRUS]

Today's Highs

 

PHL: 89
New Brnswck: 89
BLM: 88
TEB: 88
EWR: 87
LGA: 86
TTN: 86
ACY: 85
NYC: 85
ISP: 83
JFK: 83

[LibertyBell]

On 7/30/2026 at 7:18 PM, winterwarlock said:

100%

Talk of drought was always overdone. Lets shake this wet pattern and close out summer on a sunny note

 

 

The only reason I temporarily returned was to address this. Did you notice the only people who talk about drought are the people who for some reason love rainy summers? Growing up our summers were much hotter and drier than they are now. By the metrics I use our summers have not become significantly hotter since the 1990s. Late 80s through late 90s was peak heat for our region in terms of length of heat waves and number of 100 degree heat. And anyone trying to say heat domes have somehow become stronger or more frequent were not around in 1980, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2002, etc. We dont get heat like that anymore. I'll consider it a hot summer if there are at least two heat waves 7 days or more in length with at least one 100 degree day at a place not called Newark

I dont live in Long Island any more I sold that house and moved to the Poconos a few months ago my heating bill was 870 for April and 660 for May. I enjoyed reading that JFK hit 100 three days in a row I wish I was there when it happened it only got to 94 here for 2 days and 90 and 91 on the other days. That was the only time I turned on the air conditioner here. There is no drought of any type I dont care what any color coded map has to say. I have 5 weather stations set up here across 2 acres of land along with stand alone rain gages. There has never been less than 1 inch of rain every week since I moved here. Even if there was who cares summers are supposed to be hot and dry. The rainy weather belongs in spring and fall.

PS speaking of heat domes the mother of all heat domes happened in July 2-4 1911 when Mt Oocono hit 98 99 and 103 on consecutive days outside of that they have never been higher than 95. I thought maybe there was an instrument error but I see that Boston had their all time high of 104 during the same heatwave. Mt Pocono is at an elevation of 1915 feet and north of i-80 while I'm at about 1650 feet and south of I-80 so I'm about 1 to 2 degrees warmer than they are so I can't imagine what a 1911 like heatwave would be like here. I think it's interesting that both Mt Pocono and Newark maxed out at 103 during that heatwave though.  That was before the concrete jungle existed. Even if we buy the Central Park  bad siting excuse the fact remains that neither LGA nor JFK have exceeded the 107 and 104 all time records from 1966. 

Back to the "drought" issue if we go by what kind of rainfall we are used to there is no drought. We have had inflated rainfall totals since after 2002 so judging rainfall totals based on those inflated totals is like pretending the inflated snowfall averages of the 2000s and 2010s was somehow our new normal. This rainy pattern is a temporary el Nino blip I predicted a regression  back to drier summers 2 years ago and I will predict that next summer will be one of our hottest with multiple 100 degree heatwaves right to the coast analogs 1966 1983 2010. If it wasn't for that darned smoke JFK would have had a 4th 100 degree day on July 15. Where's Agent Orange when you need it that would end that smoke problem quickly 

One other thing it better NOT be cloudy for the Perseid meteor shower it should be the best in years with no light pollution from the moon.  I bought a Sigma 16mm f/1.4 lens to photograph it from my bedroom  balcony.

[LibertyBell]

On 7/30/2026 at 7:32 PM, Prue11 said:

If we can grab a quick 1/2”-1” every week we’d all be happy. Good for the environment 

Excessive rainfall is much worse than drought. For multiple reasons. Not only does it increase the populations of disease carrying insects like mosquitoes and ticks it also results in toxic runoff from farms and those pesticides and fertilizer end up in our aquifers. I would never eat anything grown here anyway. 

 

Water Vapor is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide is which is why low humidity dry heat feels so good. The days are hotter but the nights are cooler.

 

Our hottest weather comes from the west not from the south the Bermuda ridge is a humidity pump not a heat pump.

 

[LibertyBell]

19 hours ago, SnoSki14 said:

There's zero indication that the wet pattern will end. In fact the super Nino guarantees a stormy pattern.

Enjoy it for the next few months as soon as this demonic el Nino ends so will these excessive and out of season rainfall totals Next summer will be one of our hottest and driest on record I'm going with 1966 1983 and 2010 as my analogs. We are  snapping back from the inflated rainfall totals of the past two decades and this is a tiny blip after this year we return to dry.

 

[LibertyBell]

18 hours ago, bluewave said:

While it would be nice to end a longer term drought with just one storm, it’s a process that requires months of above average rainfall. Only a small portion of the total area got over 10.00” this month. But it’s a nice a nice start for most of us and our first month with above average precipitation in a while. 
 

No it definitely wouldn't be nice. This is only a drought if compared to inflated rainfall averages of the 2000s and 2020s much like a 25 inch snowfall season would be considered a snow drought going by the snowfall averages of that time. 

Most people dont like rainy summers let alone 10 inches in a month. Summer is tradionally our dry season. This is more normal for Spring or Fall. I dont care about the agricultural  cartel either they pump enough toxins into our soil and water and rainfall only makes that worse with toxic runoff. Not to mention the disease carrying bugs that rapidly multiply in wet weather. You can have wet weather in Spring and Fall but summers should be hot and dry which is why our truly hottest summers happened in the 80s and 90s. Thankfully after this el Nino ends so will this wet pattern and we will return to the long term dry pattern that will balance out the inflated rainfall totals of the 2000s and 2010s. And just a reminder water vapor is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide is and traps air pollution and causes breathing problems for many which is why hot and dry weather is so much better for overall health

 

I fully expect next summer to rank with 1966 1983 and 2010 as one of our greatest on record.