Swelter Skelter: This summer is officially Charleston's hottest on record

Image by Flickr user Andreas-photography

Since records were begun being kept about temperatures at the Charleston airport in 1938, the summer of 2010 has proved to be the hottest one yet.

The National Weather Service is reporting that the average temperature was 83.1 degree,  besting the old record set in 1998 by 0.5 degrees.

We also set records for having the most consecutive days above 90 degrees (74 days, old record was 70 in 1990) and the most nights with lows above 75 degrees (53 days, old record was 45 in 1998.)

Oh, and here's a fun fact a lot of this was thanks to our crazy hot June which averaged highs of 83.4 degrees, which bested this year's third hottest August at 83.3 degrees. 

And if you think this is just because the Charleston airport records only go back to the '30s, I'll point you to the Savannah record set this year of 83.9 degrees beating out the 1993 record -- that data goes back to 1874.

Now for all you info junkies, I pasted in the National Weather Service's full report below. 

Enjoy, I'm gonna go take a cold shower.

[Note: The National Weather Service defines the meteorological summer as June, July, and August.]

Savannah

AT SAVANNAH...THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE 3 MONTH SUMMER PERIOD
WAS 83.9 DEGREES...WHICH WAS THE WARMEST SUMMER ON RECORD. HERE IS
HOW THE SUMMER OF 2010 COMPARED TO OTHER WARM SUMMERS SINCE RECORDS
BEGAN FOR THE SAVANNAH AREA IN 1874:

YEAR AVERAGE SUMMER TEMPERATURE
---- --------------------------
2010 83.9F
1993 83.7
1986 83.3
1943 83.1
1987 82.9
1981/1990 82.7
1942/1980/1998 82.5

AT SAVANNAH...TEMPERATURES REACHED OR EXCEEDED 90 DEGREES ON 75 DAYS
DURING THE SUMMER OF 2010. THIS TIED THE MOST 90F SUMMER DAYS EVER
MEASURED IN THE SAVANNAH AREA DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS.

YEAR SUMMER DAYS WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES 90F OR HIGHER
---- ------------------------------------------------
2010/1986/1993 75
1987/1990/2009 74
1954 73
1943 72

ON 40 CONSECUTIVE DAYS /JULY 6 THROUGH AUGUST 14/ THE TEMPERATURE
AT SAVANNAH TOPPED OUT AT 90 DEGREES OR GREATER. THIS WAS THE SECOND
LONGEST STREAK OF 90F DAYS ON RECORD.

ALSO OF NOTE...TEMPERATURES AT SAVANNAH REACHED 95 DEGREES OR GREATER
ON 37 DAYS DURING THE SUMMER OF 2010. HERE ARE THE TOP FIVE YEARS
FOR 95F SUMMER DAYS:

YEAR SUMMER DAYS WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES 95F OR HIGHER
---- ------------------------------------------------
1986 51
1993 47
1954 44
1981 41
2010 37

WARM NIGHTS CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE RECORD SUMMER OF 2010
AT SAVANNAH. ON 52 NIGHTS...TEMPERATURES BOTTOMED OUT AT 75F OR
HIGHER. THIS RANKED SECOND AS MOST NIGHTS OF 75F OR HIGHER EVER
MEASURED IN THE SAVANNAH AREA.

YEAR SUMMER NIGHTS WITH LOW TEMPERATURES 75F OR HIGHER
---- -------------------------------------------------
1883 54
2010 52
1881 50
1885 49
1880 48

THE SUMMER OF 2010 AT SAVANNAH FEATURED THE SECOND WARMEST JUNE ON
RECORD /83.6F...WHICH ALSO OCCURRED IN JUNE 1952/ AND THE FOURTH
WARMEST AUGUST ON RECORD /84.2F/. 

Charleston

AT CHARLESTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR
THE THREE MONTH SUMMER PERIOD WAS 83.1 DEGREES...THE WARMEST SUMMER
PERIOD EVER RECORDED. HERE IS HOW THE SUMMER OF 2010 COMPARED TO
OTHER WARM SUMMERS SINCE RECORDS BEGAN AT THE CHARLESTON
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN 1938:

YEAR AVERAGE SUMMER TEMPERATURE
----- --------------------------
2010 83.1F
1998 82.6
1986 82.5
1990/1993 82.4
1981/1987 82.2
1977 82.1
1991/1995 81.5

AT CHARLESTON...TEMPERATURES REACHED OR EXCEEDED 90 DEGREES ON 74
DAYS DURING THE SUMMER OF 2010...THE MOST 90F SUMMER DAYS EVER
MEASURED DURING THE SUMMER AT THE AIRPORT.

YEAR SUMMER DAYS WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES 90F OR HIGHER
---- ------------------------------------------------
2010 74
1990 70
1977/1987/1993/1998 63

ON 25 CONSECUTIVE DAYS /JULY 6 THROUGH JULY 30/ THE HIGH
TEMPERATURE REACHED OR EXCEEDED 90F AT THE AIRPORT...THE
FIFTH LONGEST STRING OF 90F DAYS ON RECORD. ALSO...BETWEEN JUNE
10 AND JUNE 30 THE TEMPERATURE TOPPED OUT AT 90F OR HIGHER ON 21
CONSECUTIVE DAYS...THE SEVENTH LONGEST SUCH STREAK ON RECORD.

WARM NIGHTS CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE RECORD SUMMER OF 2010
AT THE CHARLESTON AIRPORT. ON 53 NIGHTS TEMPERATURES BOTTOMED OUT AT
75F OR HIGHER AT THE AIRPORT. THIS WAS THE MOST NIGHTS OF 75F OR
HIGHER EVER MEASURED AT THE AIRPORT.

YEAR SUMMER NIGHTS WITH LOW TEMPERATURES 75F OR HIGHER
---- -------------------------------------------------
2010 53
1998 45
1981 43
1986/1991 37
1973 27

THE SUMMER OF 2010 AT CHARLESTON FEATURED THE WARMEST JUNE ON RECORD
/83.4F/ AND THE THIRD WARMEST AUGUST ON RECORD /83.3F/.

 

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