Where has the Triple Digit Heat Gone?

Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

Triple-digit heat is a rarity for the Mid-Atlantic Region.  That’s because triple-digit temperatures are most common in arid climates away from water.  However, summers in the Nation’s Capital often feature very humid weather.  When the air is more humid, it cannot heat up or cool down as quickly.  Washingtonians typically experience 100 degree heat only every few years.  That makes the 2010 – 2012 summers unusual since triple-digit heat occurred in the Nation’s Capital multiple times. 

 

The summer of 2012 was particularly memorable since there were eight days that were at least 100 degrees.  Meanwhile, this summer has been the warmest in the Nation’s Capital since 2012, with the highest number of 90 degree days since then (53 to 39 so far in 2015), but no triple-digit heat.

Although no record highs have been set in the Mid-Atlantic Region this summer, that’s not the case in Europe where multiple record highs have been set.  In Spain, Madrid’s hottest June temperature on record of 104 degrees occurred on June 30.  London’s hottest temperature on record of 98.1 degrees occurred on July 1.  Meanwhile, Warsaw, Poland had its hottest August temperature on record this past Saturday when it was 97.9 degrees.

It’s also important to note that the National Weather Service followed up on recent assertions by some area scientists and the media that temperature readings at National Airport appeared unusually high compared with nearby suburban areas.  Upon investigating, Jim Lee, the Meteorologist-in-Charge of the Sterling, VA, NWS office said: “It looked like it [the sensor] was reading 1.5-2 degrees too high,” at National Airport.  So technicians replaced it on Monday and it’s expected that will reduce falsely high temperature differences in the DC Metro Region.