Summer weather extremes

July was indeed a hot month across much of the country and other parts of the world. Here in the Inland Northwest, average temperatures for July were a bit cooler than normal despite the very hot weather during the last week of the month.

Last week I mentioned the big “heat dome” across much of the U.S. Record warmth was reported from the southwestern U.S. all the way to the East Coast. For example, Las Vegas tied a record high on July 27 of a whopping 115 degrees. To the east, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore both hit the 100 degree mark on July 25, tying record highs. On July 24, El Paso, Texas, hit 106 degrees while Memphis, Tenn., hit 114 degrees two days earlier on July 22.

The Midwest was also reporting highs at or above the 100-degree mark late last month. On July 21, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had high heat and humidity and reported a heat index of a dangerous 116 degrees.

In the Middle East, conditions were practically unbearable as high temperatures hit a record breaking 129 degrees on July 21 and 22 in Iraq. Combing this heat with higher humidity levels, the heat index reading in Iran and the United Arab Emirates hit a stifling 140 degrees.

California’s Death Valley, the site of the world’s hottest temperature of 131 degrees on June 29, 1994, reported record heat in June. The average temperature, which is including both the low and high reading, was an incredible 101.9 degrees. This exceeded its average of 95.5 degrees. In terms of the average high, imagine a reading of 115.5 degrees practically every day with a 126 degree temperature set on June 21.

Across the Inland Empire, readings did cool down a bit last week, but we could see more 90 degree weather later this month. In case you were wondering, the hottest day ever recorded in our region was on Aug. 4, 1961. On that particular afternoon, Coeur d’Alene hit 109 degrees, our all-time record high. It was 108 degrees in Spokane. The Wenatchee airport hit 109 degrees, Ephrata and Lewiston each observed a very hot 115 degrees. Pullman was 110, Colville was 107, Ritzville and the Spokane Valley were 112 degrees and Sandpoint was 100 degrees.

Although, those numbers are impressive, some locations were even hotter in other years. For example, downtown Wenatchee was 110 degrees on July 18, 1941. Lewiston soared to 117 degrees on July 27, 1939. Colville was 109 degrees on July 23, 1994. Sandpoint was 104 degrees on July 23, 1994.

Last year was one of the hottest summers in history across our region. The oppressive heat and dryness led to numerous wildfires across the Inland Northwest as well as southward into California and northward into Canada. At Cliff’s station, there were 16 days in a row with high temperatures at or above 90 degrees from June 25 through July 10, 2015. The mercury hit a record-breaking 105 degrees on June 28.

As hot as it was last year, the most torrid summer season in our region, especially during the 20th Century, occurred in August of 1967. Cliff’s records indicate there were an all-time record 16 days that year with temperatures at or above 100 degrees with 45 days with readings at or above 90 degrees.

During that year, the Spokane International Airport had 11 consecutive days with temperatures at 90 degrees or warmer. Lewiston observed 11 consecutive days with readings at or above 100 degrees.

With all of this talk about the hot weather, it’s a different story in Canada’s Northern Northwest Territory. On July 20, a record 2 inches of snow made this part of the world feel like winter. Some of this cold air could make its way down into the central U.S. by early to mid September and bring early frosty conditions to areas north of Interstate 90.

During the last weekend of July, a “1,000-year flood” hit Ellicott City in Maryland. For the first week of August, we’ve seen flash floods in the Desert Southwest as the monsoon season is in full swing as Phoenix reported “100-year floods” from heavy downpours.

In Texas, flood payments were issued to farmers in May from those “500-Year floods” to farmers. Many of these same areas are now seeing the opposite weather pattern as drought payments were issued for July. From massive floods to extreme dryness in less than 3 months in Texas is another example of our extreme conditions across the globe.

In terms of our local weather, we may see an increase of rainfall toward the middle to the end of this month, especially near the “full moon” lunar cycle of Aug. 18-23, as the big high pressure system is expected to move more toward the east, putting us on the back side of the ridge. Temperatures should be close to normal with at least a few more hot afternoons this month.