Coolest Summer This Decade? Jury Is Still Out For Now
While we still have half the summer left in Philadelphia, the first half of meteorological summer in Philadelphia has been the coolest since 1982. The average high temperature in Philadelphia so far has been just above 80.0 degrees, which is the coolest since 1982's 79.2 degree reading for the same stretch of time. 1982 wasn't the coolest summer on record in Philadelphia (that honor belonged to the summer of '27) but at the current pace and assuming we stay as cool as we have so far this summer (that might be tough to do), Philadelphia could end up with one of the coolest summers since the official ob site moved out to the Airport in 1940.
The second half (and a couple days) of meteorological summer is warmer than the first half on average by about three degrees (76.9 here on out compared to 73.9 through today). If we were to extrapolate merely normal conditions between now and the end of August we end up with a final average temperature for the summer of 74.7 degrees, which would end up being the third coolest this decade behind 2000 and 2004 and about a degree below average overall.
For the sake of comparison, the chart up above compares the average daily high and average daily low for the entire summer this decade, as well as the summer in Philadelphia through Saturday. If we extrapolate the average of three degrees warmer from here on out, Philadelphia ends up with an average summer high of 83 degrees, which is still quite cool compared to other summer readings this decade. However, that's based on assumptions...over the next 45 days and change there could be a lot of change in the pattern...or merely more of the same.

The interesting statistic is that our high temperatures this summer so far have been 5.9 degrees cooler than through the same amount of time last year. As you may remember, we dealt with some impressive heat in early June 2008 which helped bolster those readings quite a bit. While our 'summer' seemed to occur more in late April this year (thanks to that heat wave the last few days of the month), there still is plenty of time to see a role reversal in temperatures. Unfortunately for heat mongers, the pattern that has been set in place for much of the summer will not be changing in the next several days...so the odds of being one of if not the coolest summer this decade will continually to slowly increase.
The second half (and a couple days) of meteorological summer is warmer than the first half on average by about three degrees (76.9 here on out compared to 73.9 through today). If we were to extrapolate merely normal conditions between now and the end of August we end up with a final average temperature for the summer of 74.7 degrees, which would end up being the third coolest this decade behind 2000 and 2004 and about a degree below average overall. For the sake of comparison, the chart up above compares the average daily high and average daily low for the entire summer this decade, as well as the summer in Philadelphia through Saturday. If we extrapolate the average of three degrees warmer from here on out, Philadelphia ends up with an average summer high of 83 degrees, which is still quite cool compared to other summer readings this decade. However, that's based on assumptions...over the next 45 days and change there could be a lot of change in the pattern...or merely more of the same.

The interesting statistic is that our high temperatures this summer so far have been 5.9 degrees cooler than through the same amount of time last year. As you may remember, we dealt with some impressive heat in early June 2008 which helped bolster those readings quite a bit. While our 'summer' seemed to occur more in late April this year (thanks to that heat wave the last few days of the month), there still is plenty of time to see a role reversal in temperatures. Unfortunately for heat mongers, the pattern that has been set in place for much of the summer will not be changing in the next several days...so the odds of being one of if not the coolest summer this decade will continually to slowly increase.
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