Record-Breaking Heat Wave Began Five Years Ago Today

A surprising and record-breaking heat wave across southwestern Connecticut began five years ago today, resulting in the only Spring heat wave on record. The mercury climbed to 90 degrees on Sunday afternoon, June 8, 2008, beginning a three-day stretch of oppressive heat which resulted in the early dismissal and closing of area schools the following two days.

The normal high and low temperatures for June 8 through 10 are 75 and 58 degrees, respectively. However, high pressure anchored off the Atlantic coast helped push temperatures close to 100 degrees June 9 and 10. Although the June 8 high temperature of 90 degrees was three degrees shy of the 93-degree record set in 1999, the highs of 97 and 96 degrees the following two days were both records for the date. The overnight lows hovered close to 70 degrees each morning.

The 97-degree temperature on June 9, 2008, is the warmest ever on record for June and matched the warmest-ever Spring day (May 20, 1996) at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford. The 96-degree reading the following day marked only the fourth time the mercury soared that high in June. Other than the previous day, the only other times the temperature reached 96 degrees during the month happened on June 19, 1994, and June 26, 1949.

I received notification from my hometown’s public school system informing me of the early school dismissal on Monday morning, June 9, 2008. “Due to the Heat Advisory, all public and parochial schools will close early. The buses will pick up the high school students at 12:10 p.m.; middle school students at 12:40 p.m.; elementary school children at 1:40 p.m. The P.M. PreKindergarten session is cancelled for today. Please refrain from calling the schools.” That was certainly a shocker.

Whenever the weather became oppressively hot and humid when I went to school, it was time to slow down the pace. Teachers would open the windows, close the shades, show a movie or two, and we’d visit the water fountain every 15 minutes or so. Lunch period and recess were even extended. Somehow, we survived. Sure, it was hot, but we were more excited about not having to do schoolwork rather than being bothered by the heat.

I suppose each generation has its own stories to spin. After all, we had to listen to the the exaggerated stories of our parents telling us they walked barefoot several miles to and from school uphill in four feet of snow “back in the day.” Life, it seemed, was always more difficult for previous generations. As for me, I walked to and from school in 100-degree weather without cell phones, iPods, or ‘Smoothies.’ We didn’t even break a sweat. And it never bothered us one bit!

Paul

Tropical Rain to Bring Flooding to Region

This time I prepared well ahead of time for the remnants of Tropical Storm Andrea. I climbed the ladder and cleaned out the gutters, I double-checked my sump pumps, and I moved everything in the basement to higher ground. As you may know, I live across the street from a lake, and my home was built over a stream. My basement floods routinely every time we have heavy rain.

Flooding rain is expected later this afternoon and early tonight as the remnants of Tropical Storm Andrea move across the region. The storm will track to the East, meaning we'll be on the Western (or rainy) side of the storm. The strongest wind gusts will affect extreme Eastern New England. The projected rainfall totals are staggering. The RPM model is suggesting more than four inches of rain inland, especially in Easton and Redding.

Consider, the normal rainfall for the entire month of June is 3.57" and the wettest June on record happened in 1972 when nearly a foot-and-a-half (17.7") fell across the region. Nearly an inch (0.85") of rain has been recorded at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford thus far this month, which is slightly below the 0.88" normal through yesterday. Most of the rain (0.79") fell on June 3rd.

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch through tomorrow afternoon. A Coastal Flood Advisory will be in effect from 8 p.m. until 1 o'clock tomorrow morning due to heavy rain, a persistent East wind, and a New Moon. Residents living along the immediate shoreline should be prepared for minor flooding during the time of high tide, which is close to midnight. Tides will run one-to-two feet above normal.

Here are the times of high tide:
Stamford: 11:32 p.m.
Bridgeport: 11:29 p.m.
New Haven: 11:28 p.m.

Fortunately, the storm system will rapidly accelerate and move away to the North and East early tomorrow. Skies should even brighten later tomorrow morning, and temperatures will recover into the 70s. Although there is a chance of a shower or two during the day, the worst of the storm will be well behind us. Sunday looks nice under partly to mostly sunny skies and a high temperature in the mid-to-upper 70s.

Good luck with Andrea.

Paul

Vivid Lightning During Sunday Evening's Storms

Strong thunderstorms moved through southwestern Connecticut Sunday afternoon through Sunday night. Kevin Schmidt took this photo at Riverscape Marina in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich Sunday evening at 9 o'clock. He used a Nikon D7100 DSLR camera.

Paul

Relatively Quiet May Slightly Warmer & Much Drier Than Normal

The best word to describe last month's weather across southwestern Connecticut is 'uneventful.' The month of May ended on a hot note with a high temperature climbing to 91 degrees last Friday afternoon, which was the warmest reading of the month. Overall, May was slightly warmer than normal with an average temperature of 59.4 degrees. That's just 0.3 degrees above average. Nearly three inches of precipitation fell last month, which was well below the 3.70" normal for May. 

Eleven of the 31 days last month were cooler-than-normal, including five straight days with below average temperatures from May 24 through May 28. There was a stretch of three straight cooler-than-normal days from May 13 through May 15. The average daily temperature for May 25 was 14 degrees below normal, making it the coldest day of the month, climatologically. The coldest temperature was 40 degrees the morning of May 14.

The first six days of May were dry. However, twelve of the next 25 days featured measured rain. There was never more than a half-inch of rain on any one day, though. There were four straight days with measured rain from May 22 through May 25, and four of five wet days from May 8 through May 12. The wettest day of the month happened on May 24 when 0.49" fell. The greatest 24 hour total happened May 23 and 24 with 0.83" of rain.

According to the monthly climatological report from the National Weather Service, there were 15 clear days, 10 partly cloudy days, and six mostly cloudy days in May. There were 12 days with at least one-hundredth of an inch of rain, and eight days with at least a tenth of an inch. The lowest barometric pressure was 29.66" on May 12.

Paul

June Weather Preview

Although June will start in much the same fashion in which May ended, there will be relief from the heat by early next week. A cold front will approach the region late Sunday and push through Monday, bringing showers and thunderstorms. However, cooler and less humid air arrives Tuesday through the end of next week.

So, what can we expected for June? As far as our local weather is concerned, the average high temperature for southwestern Connecticut jumps to 80 degrees by the end of the month, a leap of seven degrees from June 1. The all-time record high for the month is 97 degrees, which was established during the record-breaking heat wave on June 9, 2008.

That unusual late-Spring heat wave five years ago forced early dismissals and closings at area schools. The unseasonably warm air arrived Sunday, June 8, when the mercury reached 90 degrees. The next two days featured daytime high temperatures of 97 and 96 degrees, respectively, capping a most unusually hot stretch of weather for early June.

The mercury also reached 96 degrees two other times (June 19, 1994, and June 26, 1949). Record high temperatures of 95 degrees have been set three times, including back-to-back days of June 16 and 17 of 1957. The warmest June on record happened in 1994 when the average temperature for the month was 71.7 degrees, well above the 68.0 degree normal.

On the flip side, early June can still be gray, damp, and cool. Although the temperature has never fallen below 40 degrees for the month, the record lows for the first half of June are consistently in the lower 40s. The chilliest morning was 41 degrees on June 1, 1967. The “coldest” June on record happened in 1982 when the average temperature was 63.8 degrees, over four degrees colder than normal!

The wettest June on record happened 41 years ago in 1972 when nearly a foot-and-a-half of rain fell (17.7″). That’s well above the 3.57″ norm based on 40 years of climatology. Unbelievably, there was nearly a completely dry June in 1949 when only 0.07″ of rain was recorded. The most rain recorded in one day happened on June 19, 1972 when 6.18″ fell. Nearly five inches (4.79″) fell on June 5, 1982.

Last June featured four days with a high temperature of at least 90 degrees, including a record high of 96 degrees June 21. That followed a high temperature of 92 degrees June 20. The mercury reached 89 degrees June 22, which was just one degree shy of an official heat wave. The last two days of last June had high temperatures of 91 and 92 degrees, respectively. The heat wave was capped with a high of 92 degrees July 1. Last June's average temperature of 69.7 degrees was one degree above normal.

The average temperature is expected to be close to normal over the next two weeks, once the cold front clears the region Monday. Take a look at the forecast temperature graphics for the weeks of May 31 through June 7 and June 8 through June 16. Notice that Connecticut is within the yellow shading, which means the average daily temperature will be between 60 and 70 degrees through the next two weeks.

The length of daylight continues to grow during the month. In fact, by the start of June the sky begins to brighten in the East a little before 4 o’clock in the morning. I can actually hear a few birds chirping when I arrive at the News 12 Connecticut studios shortly after three o’clock in the morning. June features the “longest days” of the year, and by the end of the month the Sun sets at 8:30, the latest ever in southwestern Connecticut. The earliest Sunrise happens at 5:18 from June 13 through June 16.

June features the Full Strawberry Moon. It will be full this Sunday, June 23rd at 7:32 a.m. This name was was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. The relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June, so the Full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!

Happy June.

Paul

Sunrise at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk

The hottest stretch of weather this year will begin today and continue through the upcoming weekend. Daytime highs are expected to soar well into the 80s and possibly 90 degrees or more inland today, tomorrow, and Saturday. The normal high temperature for this time of the year is 72 degrees.

Patrick Clancy took these photos at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk just after sunrise this morning. It was hazy and mild just after 5:30 with temperatures in the middle 60s.

Paul