Top Ten Warmest Summers

Most of us will remember summer 2010 for the flooding. The second in as many years with 100 year floods.

It was miserable for many who are still dealing with the damage from flooding. FEMA announced today the extension for Iowans to report the damage from flooding. November 12th is the new deadline.

It might not surprise you that this summer was also the one of the hottest on record. It was the seventh warmest summer since the late 1800s.

Here is the hot item from the National Weather Service public information line this morning:


...SUMMER 2010 WAS QUITE WARM IN DES MOINES...

VERY WARM CONDITIONS WERE PERSISTENT IN DES MOINES DURING THE SUMMER
MONTHS OF JUNE...JULY AND AUGUST. IN FACT...DURING THIS 92 DAY
STRETCH...THE DAILY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS ONLY BELOW NORMAL ON 11
DAYS IN DES MOINES.

THE AVERAGE HIGH FOR THIS SUMMER IN DES MOINES WAS 86.0 DEGREES.
THIS WAS THE WARMEST AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE IN DES MOINES SINCE
1988 WHEN THE AVERAGE WAS 89.8 DEGREES. THIS ALSO RANKS AS THE 25TH
WARMEST AVERAGE HIGH IN SUMMER SINCE 1878.

THE AVERAGE LOW FOR THE SUMMER IN DES MOINES WAS 67.6 DEGREES. THIS
WAS THE WARMEST AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE IN DES MOINES SINCE 1983 WHEN
THE AVERAGE WAS 68.3. THIS RANKS AS THE 2ND WARMEST AVERAGE LOW FOR
SUMMER SINCE 1878.

THE AVERAGE OVERALL TEMPERATURE FOR THE SUMMER WAS 76.8 DEGREES.
THIS WAS THE WARMEST OVERALL AVERAGE SINCE 1988 WHEN THE AVERAGE WAS
77.6 DEGREES. THIS SUMMER RANKS AS THE 7TH WARMEST ON RECORD IN DES
MOINES SINCE 1878.

ALL OTHER SITES IN CENTRAL IOWA WERE ABOVE NORMAL DURING THE SUMMER
BUT NOT TO THE EXTENT OF DES MOINES. DES MOINES IS CONSISTENTLY ONE
OF THE WARMEST OVERNIGHT LOWS FOR THE STATE OF IOWA. IT IS LIKELY
(ALBEIT UNCONFIRMED) THAT THE DES MOINES TEMPERATURES ARE BEING
INFLUENCED BY INCREASED URBANIZATION AS COMPARED WITH OTHER NEARBY
LOCATIONS.