US sees record warm nights during summer

By Barry Eitel

SAN FRANCISCO

Evenings across the U.S. this summer were balmier than any other summer since records began in 1895, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report Thursday.

NOAA defines summer as the three-month period between June and August in which the average low temperature this year was 16 degrees Celsius (60.8 Fahrenheit), about 1.4 degrees above average.

In general, the summer of 2016 was the fifth warmest on record, tying the summer of 2006.

“Every state in the continental U.S. and Alaska were warmer than average this summer,” NOAA said.

The hot nights were of special note, however, as much of the increase, especially along the Atlantic Ocean, was caused by a rise in humidity. As the humidity rises, temperatures stay high even at night.

The warm nights likely had implications for some of the devastating weather throughout the Eastern U.S., according to NOAA. The massive floods that deluged areas of Louisiana, as well as large floods in West Virginia and Maryland, were probably linked to the warm, humid air that stuck around even at night.

“In mid-August,” NOAA said of Louisiana, “a storm system dropped more than 30 inches of rain on parts of the state that caused record flooding and at least 13 deaths.”

Three states experienced the warmest summer on record in 2016: Connecticut, Rhode Island and in California the hot season was likely a contributing factor to the many wildfires that roared through it.

Multiple urban areas had their hottest summer in recorded history, including Detroit, Las Vegas, Cleveland, New Orleans and Portland, Maine.

So far in 2016, the U.S. is experiencing its third warmest year in 122 years of record-keeping. All 48 states in the continental U.S. and Alaska have observed above average temperatures during the eight months between January and August.